Report of Joint Fighter Conference: Nas Patuxent River, MD 16-23 October 1944 (Schiffer Military History)

Book Description

A must for the World War II fighter buff, this book is a fascinating look into the minds of U.S. and British engineers, company and NACA test pilots, and Army and Navy/Marine Corps combat pilots, and presents their late 1944 views of then-current and possible future fighter aircraft. This report is an official verbatim transcript of the proceedings of a Joint Fighter Conference held at the U.S. Navy's Patuxent River test center for eight days in October 1944, and includes frank discussion on the operational and technical capabilities of the P-39, P-47, P-51, P-38, Corsair, Hellcat, P-61, YP-59, Mosquito, Spitfire, and other Allied aircraft, as well as the Japanese Zero. Participants include: Charles Lindbergh, Lloyd Child, Allen Chilton, Lt. Peter Twiss, Maj. Thomas Lanphier, Jack Woolams, Boone Guyton and scores of others. This conference is believed to be the last of several conducted in wartime in an effort to promote cross-talk between manufacturers, military servicearms, and Allies, in order to obtain the best possible fighter aircraft., over 100 b/w photographs, charts, 6" x 9"

Customer Reviews:

A difficult but rewarding read........2000-05-25

This book is a transcript of the Joint Fighter Conference along with related materials--photos of the aircraft involved and their data and "comment" cards. It is a difficult read. Basic reference material on aeronuatical and engineering terms may be necessary for the average reader and helpful for the informed reader. An overall impression is that this book is still timely. One point that comes to mind is that the qualities of a good day light dog fighter, are unchanged and may be timeless (good visibiility, maneuverability, and acceleration [think F-16]). Also there was criticism of aerodynamic add-on shortcuts to solve a problem-- something that is happening currenntly with the Super Hornet. Topics of discussion are varied ranging from maneuverability to cockpit visibility to armour and armament with stops at stroboscopic effects of propellers, to external fuel tanks. What would come to be called ergonomics was discussed in regard to making the cockpit more comfortable and usable for the pilot. A fair number of those in attendance and a large number of those flying the conference aircraft were manufacturer test pilots and reps. I got the impression there may have been some company one-upsmanship going on. Incidentally the "comment cards" are based on "one hop" impressions, so if your favorite aircraft is disrespected a little, don't worry too much. I was surprised by a number of things such as the mention of some fairly obscure aircraft (eg. the G.M. P-75, Curtis XF-14) and the absence of any discussion of enemy aircraft then being encountered. I was shocked by a comment near the end of the conference that the air war is being won by "quantity rather than by quality" (the P-38 and P-51 are specifically mentioned) and at least one contractor agrees. I have never read of heard anything before suggesting quality was lacking in late War U.S. aircraft as a whole. If you're a WWII fighter buff and don't mind having to put some research and effort into your reading you will be rewarded by this book.

Essential for "hard-core" WWII Aviation junkies.......1998-09-28

Despite a title to fill the mouth ( _Report of Joint Fighter Conference, NAS Patuxent River, MD 16-23 October 1944_) this book is a gem to those who have a serious interest in understanding the deeper layers of air combat during WWII. Briefly, the Joint Conference was a gathering of 400 Allied combat pilots, engineers and test pilots. They had a "fly off" of every major US aircraft at the time. The British delegation brought a Seafire II and a Mosquito. The evaluators even had a late model Zero to use for comparison. Edited by noted aviation author Francis Dean, the book is in two parts. The 250 page report itself is a transcript of the discussion among experts that took place each afternoon after the morning's fly-off. Each session centered on one topic or another, although the tangents were numerous. I should warn that the conversation is far over the head of the material presented in garden variety books about aircraft. But I found it fascinating being a "fly on the wall" as the men who made and flew the great fighters of WWII dissect them piece by piece. The last 100 pages is made up of technical evaluations of the respective aircraft. This is not a work for the casual reader. However, if you know the rudiments of aviation and have the WWII "Warbird" bug, there's really nothing like this. (The Conference Report provided Mr. Dean with some of the material used in his splendid _America's One Hundred Thousand: US Production Fighters of World War Two_ [Schiffer, 1997])

Building the Cold War Consensus: The Political Economy of U.S. National Security Policy, 1949-51

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Building the Cold War Consensus: The Political Economy of U.S. National Security Policy, 1949-51
Benjamin Fordham
Manufacturer: University of Michigan Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0472108875

Book Description

In 1950, the U.S. military budget more than tripled while plans for a national health care system and other new social welfare programs disappeared from the agenda. At the same time, the official campaign against the influence of radicals in American life reached new heights. Benjamin Fordham suggests that these domestic and foreign policy outcomes are closely related. The Truman administration's efforts to fund its ambitious and expensive foreign policy required it to sacrifice much of its domestic agenda and acquiesce to conservative demands for a campaign against radicals in the labor movement and elsewhere.

Using a statistical analysis of the economic sources of support and opposition to the Truman Administration's foreign policy, and a historical account of the crucial period between the summer of 1949 and the winter of 1951, Fordham integrates the political struggle over NSC 68, the decision to intervene in the Korean War, and congressional debates over the Fair Deal, McCarthyism and military spending. The Truman Administration's policy was politically successful not only because it appealed to internationally oriented sectors of the U.S. economy, but also because it was linked to domestic policies favored by domestically oriented, labor-sensitive sectors that would otherwise have opposed it.

This interpretation of Cold War foreign policy will interest political scientists and historians concerned with the origins of the Cold War, American social welfare policy, McCarthyism, and the Korean War, and the theoretical argument it advances will be of interest broadly to scholars of U.S. foreign policy, American politics, and international relations theory.

Benjamin O. Fordham is Assistant Professor of Political Science, State University of New York at Albany.

Standard Catalog of American Cars 1805-1942 (Standard Catalog of American Cars)

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Excellent automobile reference.
The Best Source for Researching American Automobile History!

Standard Catalog of American Cars 1805-1942 (Standard Catalog of American Cars)
Beverly R. Kimes , Henry Austin Clark , Ralph Dunwoodie , and Keith Marvin
Manufacturer: Krause Publications
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0873414284

Customer Reviews:

Excellent automobile reference........2002-08-16

I beleive that anyone looking for an automobile that could have been made in the US, will find it in this book. Very well written and informative.

The Best Source for Researching American Automobile History!.......1998-12-08

The Author's of this book have done a fantastic job of researching and documenting the early history of the American automobile. I have found this book to be an invaluable reference in researching the history of the automobile stock and bond certificates which I collect.

Book Description

In response to Soviet advances in science and engineering education, the country's top scientists with the support of the federal government in 1956 launched an unprecedented program to reform pre-college science education in the United States. Drawing on a wide range of archival material, John Rudolph traces the origins of two of the leading projects in this movement in high school physics and biology. Rudolph describes how the scientists directing these projects drew on their wartime experiences in weapons development and defense consultation to guide their foray into the field of education and he reveals how the broader social and political conditions of the 1950s Cold War America fundamentally shaped the nature of the course materials they eventually produced.

Customer Reviews:

Future Carl Sagan in the making........2002-05-14

Wow. I began reading this book with a skeptical mind. Soon into the content, I realized that Mr. Rudolph is capable of teaching anyone, anything. Clearly, the time that went into collecting the information shared in this wonderful document must have been extensive. I've done some research on this author, and was surprised to learn of his relative young age. I can't wait to read what he publishes next.

I Always Wanted to Fly: America's Cold War Airmen

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Review: I Always Wanted to Fly
A very good write up of what the first quarter century of USAF service was like
Wolfgang Samuel does it again!
Spy Flights of the Cold War
I Always Wanted to Fly

I Always Wanted to Fly: America's Cold War Airmen
Wolfgang W. E. Samuel
Manufacturer: University Press of Mississippi
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 157806399X

Customer Reviews:

Review: I Always Wanted to Fly.......2007-01-10

What exhilarating suspense could I possibly find in a title such as I always Wanted to Fly? I always wanted both of my feet on the ground. So, I played it safe and fastened my seat belt for the trip. I knew from previous readings that a Wolfgang Samuel book is always loaded with hair-raising details that easily bring emotions to the surface. And it did; as in the past, a thoroughly rewarding experience.

All creatures were not created equal. The flyers were brave men by virtue of their wanting to fly while aware of the perils. They were heroes because of what they did while flying under the horrors of battle. And they were brave and heroic again and again. Others, unlike them, although devoted and dedicated, tended to their menial undertakings, other than combat, while having both feet safe on the ground and the mess hall within reach.

I Always Wanted to Fly describe the missions in such vivid details that the reader is flying right along with the crew and experiencing the thrills of victory as well as the agony of all that goes wrong. A reader that always wanted both feet on the ground may be undeserving of either; for even in defeat there is the thrill of having done your best and one can only do that by been there flying the mission in flesh and blood. Oh, but the reader can surely gain a fuller appreciation of the brave and heroic deeds of our airmen in their many war missions, whether COLD or HOT.

A very good write up of what the first quarter century of USAF service was like.......2006-06-19

This book is four stars.

I was sort of expecting Colonel Samuels to write about his flying, kind of like a follow up to his very excellent book, "German Boy". However, Author Samuels only gives a few snippets about his flying for the USAF. Well over 95% of the book is about flyers and a small amount is about the aircrews.

The USAF was born in the late 40s, a result of military reforms by President Truman. The USAF found itself quickly involved in the Korean war. Samuels give a write up to the raids the B-29 bombers made on North Korea. Generally, the day light raids by the B-29 bombers were a debacle. The world war two era B-29 bombers stood little chance against the highly advanced MiG-15 fighters. The raids switched to night time bombings. Author Samuel gives stories from both the pilots and enlisted aircraft gunners point-of-view.

Author Samuels covers stories on the F-51 (ex WWII P-51) ground support and B-26 attack missions in Korea. Note, the stories on the F-51 are rather lacking in detail. A big problem of the F-51 was it had a water cooled engine and many were brought down in the ground support role by simple bullet holes in their radiators. This does not make the book and the excellent WWII fighter ended its days as only a fair ground support aircraft in Korea. The A-1 Skyraider was a better aircraft for ground support but was not assigned to the USAF at that time.

Author Samuels does give a bit of writing to the RB-47, RB-45, and the interwar period of 1954 to 1964, before heavy involvement in Vietnam. This is during the hard cold war era. Space craft really had not been invented yet and so it was left to the crews of the RB-47 to fly spy missions in Russian air space. More than a few RB-47s come back with cannon holes.

Samuels does write about Thule (pronounced Thew-Lee) AFB in Greenland. There are prisons in the USA that had better conditions than Thule. The grim living conditions and unsanitary conditions were most unpleasant.

Samuels does not write about the conditions of the USAF at their normal bases during the 1950s to 1960s period. This is a little strange. There is no comment on the lives of the officers in USAFE (Europe) nor of the fairly laid back life style of SAC before Vietnam.

Samuels does give chapters of his writings to Vietnam. Basically, the USAF needed follow up aircraft for the type of fighting it saw in Korea. Instead the USAF had some of the worst aircraft for the mission it ever had. The F-4 Phantom was an outsized aircraft that left a smoke trail that could be seen from 50 miles away. The F-104C could not turn. The F-105 neither could turn nor fly faster than a MiG.

Vietnam was a borderline debacle for the USAF. It was reduced to using ex-Navy A-1 Skyraiders and surplus B-26 bombers for some close support missions. The new generation AC-130 gunships are mentioned in passing.

"I always wanted to fly" is a book about the first generation USAF, the USAF of 1947 to 1973, the end of Vietnam. The book is about the pilots, some is written on the aircraft, and little background is given on the enlisted crews nor of the typical living conditions they enjoyed at the typical USAF bases.

A much better book on the Cold War is "Blind Man's Bluff", the story of the US Navy submarines during the Cold War. While RB-47s were being chased by MiGs and F-51s were having holes punched through their radiators the US Navy nuclear submarines were pushing around the Russian Navy like a 600 pound gorilla knocks around a 5 pound monkey. The cold fact of life was the US Navy was much better than the Soviet Navy and the Soviets knew it. Conversely, the MiGs knocked around the USAF recon aircraft on a regular basis.

Still, "I always wanted to fly" is a very good book on the people who helped keep this nation free from 1947 until 1973. These people used what is often second rate equipment to the best of their ability.

Author Samuels writes in a fast and flowing style that is never boring. This book is a four star work.

Wolfgang Samuel does it again!.......2002-01-08

Wolfgang Samuel does it again... After penning German Boy, a book relating his own experiences as a German youth fighting for survival at the end of WWII, Samuel examines the post-World War II Cold War through the eyes of American air force flyers. As a reader, I found it refreshing that throughout the book Samuel allowed military aviators to tell their own stories. But more importantly, he puts the events and activities into historical context so that readers who are not steeped in the history of the time understand the critical importance of the Cold War air effort documented by him. Early on, we hear American flyers saying "I Always Wanted to Fly" but I found the stories to be about commitment, motivation, dedication and the determined fight for the very freedoms we enjoy everyday. This book is a must read for history buffs and an adventurous, exciting and engaging work for any reader interested in the Cold War.

Spy Flights of the Cold War.......2001-12-17

In this extraordinary book you learn what it cost America to maintain our freedom - the many lives lost of airmen who flew what they called reconnaissance against the Soviet Union and Communist China. I never knew much about this secret war. Well, I Always Wanted to Fly, tells you all about those brave men who flew the RB-45 and the RB-47 in the coldest years of the Cold War. It tells you about the picture takers and those who gathered the electronic intelligence. At times their cold war flights got pretty hot. Samuel takes you along on one of those missions high over the Barents Sea, lets you experience what Hal Austin and his crew felt when they turned south, heading for Archangelsk. I admire those men and Samuel told their story beautifully. This is a book you don't want to miss if you have any interest in Cold War reconnaissance. I call them spy flights.

I Always Wanted to Fly.......2001-09-09

Another outstanding book by Wolfgang Samuel as he presents another facet of history in way it always needed to be told. We tend to look at history from the perspective of those who shape history - the politicians and statesmen, but here we see it from the perspective of those who make history - the military, as they go about doing their job. So eloquently written that the reader can't help but feel like being along on the mission as part of the crew - exciting, frightening and an unforgetable experience. The author has made it possible for the general public to get a taste of the airmen's world and to look behind the scenes of the many battles and wars fought since the end of World War 11. It makes one proud and appreciative of our Cold War Airmen, and thankful to them for a job well done. Highly recommend this book, as it's an eye opener for anyone who wants to know what has been going on during the last fifty five years.

Guardians of Empire: The U.S. Army and the Pacific, 1902-1940

Average customer rating:

Strategic Context for the pre-WW2 era
Excellent, but be wary about strategy evaluation
harshly critical of MacArthur
"A brilliant work by an up and coming author..."
Best book available on the subject.

Guardians of Empire: The U.S. Army and the Pacific, 1902-1940
Brian McAllister Linn
Manufacturer: The University of North Carolina Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0807848158
Release Date: 1999-02-03

Book Description

In a comprehensive study of four decades of military policy, Brian McAllister Linn offers the first detailed history of the U.S. Army in Hawaii and the Philippines between 1902 and 1940. Most accounts focus on the months preceding the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. By examining the years prior to the outbreak of war, Linn provides a new perspective on the complex evolution of events in the Pacific. Exhaustively researched, Guardians of Empire traces the development of U.S. defense policy in the region, concentrating on strategy, tactics, internal security, relations with local communities, and military technology.

Linn challenges earlier studies which argue that army officers either ignored or denigrated the Japanese threat and remained unprepared for war. He demonstrates instead that from 1907 onward military commanders in both Washington and the Pacific were vividly aware of the danger, that they developed a series of plans to avert it, and that they in fact identified—even if they could not solve—many of the problems that would become tragically apparent on 7 December 1941.

Customer Reviews:

Strategic Context for the pre-WW2 era.......2005-10-16

Linn notes that the big question of WWII is, "why, with almost four decades to prepare, these (US Army) military forces proved unable to defend the nation's Pacific possessions against Japan." The author notes that the traditional approach has been to focus on events in the short-term prior to Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor and the Philippines, however his effort is to, "offer a somewhat longer perspective through a narrative history of the U.S. Army in Hawaii and the Philippines from 1902 to 1940....its task is not to delineate the road to Pearl Harbor, but to illuminate the numerous paths the army trod in its long search for a viable Pacific defense....For years it had foreseen both the threat and its own inability to ward it off." From a strategic perspective, this book does a good job of putting America's failure into context. It points out that although the surprise attack of 7 December 1941 was not detected, from a military capabilities standpoint there was little the Army could have done. Although I believe one needs to be careful with historical parallels, a student of strategy can see how political and economic considerations drive strategy. Indeed, a similar issue between today (2004) and then was the tension between what is required to hold ground when forces are deployed vs. the ability to deploy and sustain those same forces over a great deal of distance.

Excellent, but be wary about strategy evaluation.......2005-03-31

This is a splendid and pioneering study of the Army in the Pacific, a subject badly in need of more light that it has hitherto received. It brings the Pacific Army to life in a way that no one else had even attempted.

Like any book, however, it has its limitations, and as is usually true it is the ones that author was not aware of (at least at the time) and did not flag for our attention that we must take most care of. In this case the principal limitation lies in strategic view.

The Philippines, as the author makes clear, never had any intrinsic significance for the United States (or for the earlier colonial power, Spain, for that matter) -- no riches or resources to be reaped. The sole significance of the islands lay in their position. Initially, Americans had calculated (like the Spaniards before them) that possession of Manila would provide an important advantage in gaining the rewards of the rich China trade. Luzon and the rest of the islands simply came with the deal. Almost as soon as they had been seized, however, other events eroded Manila's importance in this role greatly. (Perhaps we should say "seeming importance," as there never were the prospects which had been envisioned in 1898.) Finding themselves in possession of a colony of little value, Americans not unnaturally felt reservations about spending large sums to garrison and defend it. Thus a purely nominal force was assigned to its defense, adequate only for internal security and the assertion of sovereignty. The oft-proclaimed "bastion" of the Philippines was in reality no more than a sentry post, bound to be overrun quickly in any serious assault. To invest in a real Philippine fortress or in mobile forces strong enough to quickly relieve it would involve an expense that few Americans could see as justified.

Distant events changed all that. By the late 1930s, of course, the propensity of Japan for aggressive military expansion was manifest, but that did not seem particularly threatening in itself, given that the economic resources of the country were so small relative to those of the U.S. But the outbreak of the European War in 1939, followed by the Nazi defeat of France and threat to Britain in 1940, heightened American security concerns vastly. Then in September, 1940, Japan joined the Axis Pact, making itself an ally of Germany. Japan had intended this to change American perceptions and it did that, but not in the way that had been hoped. Japan ceased to be a disagreeable nuisance in a distant place and instead clearly became a potential part of a serious threat, to be blocked if possible and crushed if necessary. Very suddenly, the importance of the Philippines' geographic position changed dramatically.

It is this transition that Prof. Linn misses in focusing on the local realities rather than the global strategic picture that dominated the awareness of Washington decision-makers in 1940-41. This broader reality is well presented in Waldo Heinrichs, "Pearl Harbor in a Global Context," in _Pearl Harbor Revisited_, edited by Robert W. Love, Jr. (London: Macmillan, 1995) (ISBN 0312095937), and in more extended fashion in the same author's _Threshold of War: Franklin D. Roosevelt and American Entry into World War II_, (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1988) (ISBN 0195061683). For the same issue from a different perspective see Gerhard L. Weinberg, "Global Conflict: The Interaction Between the European and Pacific Theaters of War in World War II," in _Germany, Hitler, and World War II: Essays in Modern German and World History_, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995) (ISBN 0521474078), or his book, _A World at Arms: A Global History of World War II_, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994) (ISBN 0521558794).

Beginning with the Japanese occupation of Vietnam in July of 1941, thereby making manifest their determination to continue down the road of active alliance with Hitler, the U.S. began to rush all available military power to the Philippines, reserving only that which was essential to the security of America itself. But years of penuriousness and neglect had left the cupboard largely bare, and re-armament was yet to produce major material results. So the Philippine defenders, like the exposed sentry, became casualties of the brutally inexorable logic of war. Brian Linn's book provides a major and largely-overlooked piece of this picture, but is somewhat weak on the overall context.

There are also other sources which the interested reader may wish to consult in order to get a fuller picture. These include John J. Stephan, _Hawaii Under the Rising Sun: Japan's Plans for Conquest After Pearl Harbor_, (Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press, 1984) (0824825500) and the article by Richard B. Meixsel, "Major General George Grunert, WPO-3, and the Philippine Army, 1940-1941," _Journal of Military History_, 59, No. 2 (Apr 1995): 303-24. Both offer insights not fully captured by Linn. In a more recent article, "Manuel L. Quezon, Douglas MacArthur, and the Significance of the Military Mission to the Philippine Commonwealth," _Pacific Historical Review_, 70, No. 2: 255-92, Meixsel introduces some new evidence regarding the events in the Philippines in the 1930s and uses it to call into question some of Linn's claims.

While I have focused on its limitations, I want to emphasize again that this is a very valuable and unique book, even taking them fully into account.

harshly critical of MacArthur.......2003-09-24

Brian Linn believes that the American annexation of the Philippines damaged rather than helped the U.S. position in East Asia. Even before the outbreak of the Second World War, American military planners knew that the Philippines were extremely vulnerable to Japanese invasion but were relunctant to raise a native force that could also be a threat to the American Army. The security problems only became worse when before the attack on Pearl Harbor, MacArthur authorized the defence of the entire Philippines and not just the Bataan peninsular. As a result of America's fear of a native force to protect the Philippines and MacArthur's overly ambitious plans, the United State suffered a humiliating defeat to the Japanese in 1942. I would reccomend this book foy anyone who believes that a new American empire would enhance national security but has ignored the disasterous example of the American experience with the Philippines.

"A brilliant work by an up and coming author...".......2001-10-18

With these words, Professor Linn introduced his American Military History class to his book Guardians of Empire. Even though we were not required to read all of the chapters, I found myself wanting to finish the book due to its captivating nature.

While perhaps lacking the dry humor and probing questions of his lectures, the book manages to provide a striking look at the interwar Army, challenging common assertions of Army doctrine and planning. In the final chapter, Dr. Linn notes that in the search for what happened in 1941, people rarely go back past 1940. This book is an attempt to do exactly that. It probes the decisions, dogma and lifestyle of the American Army in the interwar period.

Wonderfully written and solidly researched, Guardians provides the best treatment of the American interwar establishment to date.

Best book available on the subject........1999-06-17

This book is extremely well done and spells out the history of American involvement in the Pacific after 1898 much better than anything else on the market. Although Miller's WAR PLAN ORANGE is also an interesting book, but from the navy's point of view, I feel this one is much better done. Highly recommend this work to anyone wanting background on the Pacific War.

Technological Change And The United States Navy, 1865-1945 (Johns Hopkins Studies in the History of Technology)

Average customer rating:

Has value, but also important flaws

Technological Change And The United States Navy, 1865-1945 (Johns Hopkins Studies in the History of Technology)
William M. McBride
Manufacturer: JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY PRESS
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0801864860

Book Description

Navies have always been technologically sophisticated, from the ancient world's trireme galleys and the Age of Sail's ships-of-the-line to the dreadnoughts of World War I and today's nuclear-powered aircraft carriers and submarines. Yet each large technical innovation has met with resistance and even hostility from those officers who, adhering to a familiar warrior ethos, have grown used to a certain style of fighting. In Technological Change and the United States Navy, William M. McBride examines how the navy dealt with technological change--from the end of the Civil War through the "age of the battleship"--as technology became more complex and the nation assumed a global role. Although steam engines generally made their mark in the maritime world by 1865, for example, and proved useful to the Union riverine navy during the Civil War, a backlash within the service later developed against both steam engines and the engineers who ran them. Early in the twentieth century the large dreadnought battleship at first met similar resistance from some officers, including the famous Alfred Thayer Mahan, and their industrial and political allies. During the first half of the twentieth century the battleship exercised a dominant influence on those who developed the nation's strategies and operational plans--at the same time that advances in submarines and fixed-wing aircraft complicated the picture and undermined the battleship's superiority.

In any given period, argues McBride, some technologies initially threaten the navy's image of itself. Professional jealousies and insecurities, ignorance, and hidebound traditions arguably influenced the officer corps on matters of technology as much as concerns about national security, and McBride contends that this dynamic persists today. McBride also demonstrates the interplay between technological innovation and other influences on naval adaptability--international commitments, strategic concepts, government-industrial relations, and the constant influence of domestic politics. Challenging technological determinism, he uncovers the conflicting attitudes toward technology that guided naval policy between the end of the Civil War and the dawning of the nuclear age. The evolution and persistence of the "battleship navy," he argues, offer direct insight into the dominance of the aircraft-carrier paradigm after 1945 and into the twenty-first century.

Customer Reviews:

Has value, but also important flaws.......2001-11-08

William McBride's book is accurately titled, although it needs to be understood that this is a social history of naval technological change, not technological history (nor economic history) per se. However, the little he does say about technology is mostly well informed, at least up to 1945 -- he has avoided the technological know-nothingism of many of the others who write on such subjects. He served as a junior naval officer and this background seems to stand him in good stead in forming his judgements about people and events.

The principal theme is the rise and evolution of ideas about battleships and their rivals for naval dominance. There are no profound new insights here, but on the whole McBride does a good job with his subject. He elaborates the picture in important respects and has many thoughtful observations to offer.

McBride sometimes is rather quick to impute motives to individuals and groups without much substantiation or consideration of alternative hypotheses. No doubt he is correct in most of these judgements, and he is less summary than many authors on these subjects have been, but I personally would have preferred a somewhat more measured approach.

Unfortunately, his prose can be off-putting at some times, due to his fondness for clothing fundamentally common-sensical concepts in obscurantist academic jargon. Fortunately, there is not too much of this and most of the book is reasonably readable.

One regrettable distortion comes in his somewhat tortured discussion of the naval arms limitations treaties (the Five Power Treaty of 1921 and its 1930 and 1936 London Treaty sequels). Although it has little to do with his ostensible subject, McBride ventures into judgments regarding the effects of various U.S. actions on opinion in Japan and the Imperial Japanese Navy, apparently without having consulted some of the most important scholarship on the subject. For instance, I can find no citation of his to James Crowley's book, Japan's Quest for Autonomy, with its extended and authoritative treatment of the U.S. as well as Japanese side of the London Treaties. Nor does he cite David Evans' and Mark Peattie's essential study of the Japanese Navy, Kaigun. These sources, based in extensive Japanese-language primary research, paint quite a different picture than McBride favors regarding the impact of the U.S. naval expansion of the 1930s on Japanese Navy views, relative to other influences. This is a self-inflicted wound: if he was unable to conduct more thorough research in the issue, peripheral as it is to his main point, McBride could perfectly well have avoided forming judgements regarding it without loss to his main arguments.

I puzzled over McBride's bald assertion that "the [rigid] airship could have succeeded," citing its supposed high search rate. He does make one citation to a book that examines this question in some detail and comes to quite different conclusions (Richard Smith's The Airships Akron & Macon), but seems to have relied principally on other sources. Few who have studied the issue carefully would agree with him -- some years ago, two of the last of Goodyear's rigid airship engineers disagreed flatly with him in the course of an extended discussion I had with them regarding proposals for reviving the technology.

It is understandable that there is no reference to the recent study by Thomas Hone, Norman Friedman, and Mark Mandeles, American & British Aircraft Carrier Development, 1919-1941 -- no doubt McBride's book was already in press by the time it appeared. Nevertheless, this is unfortunate, as their insights and evidence would have enriched McBride's work significantly in some areas.

In his final chapter, McBride ranges far beyond the period he set for himself, attempting not only to draw sweeping conclusions but to provide policy recommendations. Regrettably, this is the weakest part of the book. He is too ready to pronounce conclusions without careful analysis and without having developed strong evidence or given adequate consideration to alternative hypotheses. His treatment of recent developments often seems quite ill-informed and many of his confidently-asserted predictions seem dubious or even silly in light of what has transpired since the book was written. And he indulges especially in dense academic jargon in this section. Most readers will want to skip this chapter, and will retain a better opinion of the book for having done so.

Notwithstanding some lacunae, however, on the whole this is a valuable study of the process by which the U.S. Navy adapted itself to changing technology and needs in the period between the Civil War and World War II.

Will O'Neil

Swinging the Machine: Modernity, Technology, and African American Culture between the World Wars

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understanding the techno-dialogic
Comprehensive, Readable, Enlightening, Important

Swinging the Machine: Modernity, Technology, and African American Culture between the World Wars
Joel Dinerstein
Manufacturer: University of Massachusetts Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1558493832

Book Description

In any age and any given society, cultural practices reflect the material circumstances of people's everyday lives. According to Joel Dinerstein, it was no different in America between the two World Wars—an era sometimes known as the "machine age"—when innovative forms of music and dance helped a newly urbanized population cope with the increased mechanization of modern life. Grand spectacles such as the Ziegfield Follies and the movies of Busby Berkeley captured the American ethos of mass production, with chorus girls as the cogs of these fast, flowing pleasure vehicles.

Yet it was African American culture, Dinerstein argues, that ultimately provided the means of aesthetic adaptation to the accelerated tempo of modernity. Drawing on a legacy of engagement with and resistance to technological change, with deep roots in West African dance and music, black artists developed new cultural forms that sought to humanize machines. In "The Ballad of John Henry," the epic toast "Shine," and countless blues songs, African Americans first addressed the challenge of industrialization. Jazz musicians drew on the symbol of the train within this tradition to create a set of train-derived aural motifs and rhythms, harnessing mechanical power to cultural forms. Tap dance and the lindy hop brought machine aesthetics to the human body, while the new rhythm section of big band swing mimicked the industrial soundscape of northern cities. In Dinerstein's view, the capacity of these artistic innovations to replicate the inherent qualities of the machine—speed, power, repetition, flow, precision—helps explain both their enormous popularity and social function in American life.

Customer Reviews:

understanding the techno-dialogic.......2003-07-25

Fabulous book. Dinerstein ties together architecture, tap dancing, West African drummers, the lindy hop, John Henry and Fred Astaire in this exploration of what he calls the "techno-dialogic" embedded in big band/swing music. He argues that African American artists put the industrial rhythms of the era in popular music. In this analysis, dancing to the big band wasn't just about entertainment, it was about using one's body to keep pace with the machine. Until you've read Dinerstein and considered how dance/movement/sound contribute to cultural change, you haven't understood American modernity.

Comprehensive, Readable, Enlightening, Important.......2003-05-20

This book weaves together several important and somewhat familiar stories in a startlingly new and brilliant way. We know that music and dance exploded in powerful new forms in the 1930s. And we know the "streamlined" and "futuristic" themes of techno-optimism dominated other cultural expressions in the 1930s. And we know there was a current of "techno-anxiety" that expressed itself in everything from Chaplin films to the Frankfurt School. But Joel Dinerstein has shown that these phenomena intimately informed each other. We will never view early-20th century American culture the same way after this book. Buy it. Read it. Assign it to your students. It should win many major awards.

American Samurai: Myth and Imagination in the Conduct of Battle in the First Marine Division 19411951

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American Samurai : Myth and Imagination in the Conduct of Battle in the First Marine Division 1941-1951
Horrible Book... Burn Baby Burn!!!
The Truth Hurts
Its about time
Disgruntlement as Analysis

American Samurai: Myth and Imagination in the Conduct of Battle in the First Marine Division 19411951
Craig M. Cameron
Manufacturer: Cambridge University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0521441684

Book Description

Events on the battlefields of the Pacific War were not only outgrowths of technology and tactics, but also products of cultural myth and imagination. American Samurai offers a bold and innovative approach to military history by linking combat activity to cultural images. Marines projected ideas and assumptions about themselves and their enemy onto people and events throughout the war--giving life to formerly abstract myths and ideas and molding their behavior to expectations. This fascinating book concludes by considering what happened to the myths and images and how they have been preserved in American society to the present.

Customer Reviews:

American Samurai : Myth and Imagination in the Conduct of Battle in the First Marine Division 1941-1951.......2005-09-05

While the author uses complex and delineated occurances in military history, his opinion openly and incorrectly bears his philosophical presuppositions on war and the nature of fighting war. It is evident that the author is a social commentator on the subject and not an actual participant in said events. The fact of the matter is that war by its very nature and existance is a brutal and vile scourge on humanity. I understand this all to well. What belies opinions and books like this is a false belief that superior knoweledge of anti-war will stop them (future wars) from happening. How can this explain the religious fanaticim exemplified in the mideast under the auspicious of an Islamic Jiad. No, there is no war that is clean and antiseptic. You cannot with any intelligence send men or women into combat without preparing them fro the stark realities of it. The better prepared an individual is ensures an improved chance for survival. If I had to go back into a combat situation I would gladly take any Marine over this author or any one else with an hallucination of reality. Seemingly intelligent and opinionated people which espouse the "Athinean, right never has to fight" view (to the Spartan world) should always preface their books and opinions with the caveat that they have never had to do "dirty work" in the real world. Remember, it was men like Chamberlin that cost the world over 60 million dead.

Horrible Book... Burn Baby Burn!!!.......2003-12-19

GOD made the earth, GOD made the sky, GOD made this ignornat fool... only GOD knows why!

The Truth Hurts.......2002-10-15

Organizations must have identities, however manufactured or inbred, and the Marine Corps is not immune to such an eminently human and natural tendency. I've been a Marine for much of my life, and Cameron is right. Further, anyone with the intellectual courage to contact and speak with him will discover that, alas, he enjoyed his service, he loves the Corps, and is still involved with it as a cultural institution. Anyone who has a problem with Cameron also has a problem with the revered Marine General Smedley Butler, two-time Medal of Honor winner. At the end of his career, he wrote a book entitled "War is a Racket", also available here on Amazon. He makes some equally disturbing revelations about the Marine Corps he served, claiming that he had spent his career as an instrument of American imperialism. Chew on that one, devil dogs.

This book, while occasionally going a bit far out in its analysis, does with frightening accuracy portray both the historical and real Marine Corps. It serves as a much needed counterbalance to Thomas Ricks' "Making the Corps". To my mind, the Marines need more thinking men like him to expose some of the sinister dysfunctions of our virtual religion. Call him the Martin Luther of the Corps.

Its about time.......2000-06-13

Finally someone has the guts to admit what actually occured in the Pacific war in WW@. Both my uncles were Marines involved in the battles of Peleliu, Okinawa and Tarawa, and their experiences are mirrored exactly in this book. It was almost a ritual for the Marines, once after killing Japanese soldiers, to harvest various body parts, including teeth, ears, and even cutting off the heads and boiling the flesh off dead Japanese soldiers and sending them back to families in the states to use as cigarette trays! My uncles were taught from the first day of boot camp that the Japanese weren't even human and deserved such treatment. I congratulate the author for being brave enought to withstand the obvious charges of "revisionism" and "political correctness" that his book would elicit.

Disgruntlement as Analysis.......2000-05-19

I couldn't help but wonder whether Cameron, who the book jacket noted was a former Marine, had some axe to grind with the Corps. His radically revisionist examination of the combat record of the 1st Marine Division, a unit which lost no battles in either World War II or Korea, can only be termed baffling. More puzzling is his treatment of Marine training, which sustained almost half a million men through a series of savagely violent battles from Wake Island to Okinawa to Chosin Reservoir. Veterans like William Manchester and Eugene B. Sledge provide balanced, accurate analyses of USMC wartime training and its effect on the Marines in combat. I don't know what upset Craig Cameron when he served, but "American Samurai" seems to be a clear attempt to get back at the Corps.

Down and Out on the Family Farm: Rural Rehabilitation in the Great Plains, 1929-1945 (Our Sustainable Future)

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Down and Out on the Family Farm: Rural Rehabilitation in the Great Plains, 1929-1945 (Our Sustainable Future)
Michael Johnston Grant
Manufacturer: University of Nebraska Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Book Description

Focusing on the Great Plains states of Kansas, Nebraska, North Dakota, and South Dakota between 1929 and 1945, Down and Out on the Family Farm examines small family farmers and the Rural Rehabilitation Program designed to help them. Historian Michael Johnston Grant reveals the tension between economic forces that favored large-scale agriculture and political pressure that championed family farms, and the results of that clash.

The Great Depression and the drought of the 1930s lay bare the long-term economic instability of the rural Plains. The New Deal introduced the Rural Rehabilitation Program to assist lower- to middle-income farmers throughout the country. This program combined low-interest loans with managerial advice. However, these efforts were not enough to compete with the growing scale of agriculture or to counter the recurring drought of the era. Regional conservatism, environmental factors, and fiscal constraints limited the federal aid offered to thousands of families.

Grant provides extensive primary source research from government documents, as well as letters, newspaper editorials, and case studies that focus on individual lives and fortunes. He examines who these families were and what their farms looked like, and he sheds light on the health problems and other personal concerns that interfered with the economic viability of many farms. The result is a provocative study that gives a human face to the hardships and triumphs of modern agriculture.

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