I came across this fine spy-thriller/murder mystery during the summer of 2015. Author Stan Morse is an attorney living in central Washington State. Goering’s Gold bounces back and forth from the 1930’s to 2002 and beyond. The cover photo shows heavy duty pipes with Nazi Swastikas embossed on them. This part of the story is real. …
As a World War II buff, I was thrilled to “discover” Blackett’s War by Stephen Budiansky. The first half of the book introduces the cast of characters, all of whom were real scientists. It also sets the background for why these men were approached by, or volunteered their services to, the British and American military forces. Patrick …
Ross Coen is a doctoral student in the University of Washington history department and the author of Fu-Go: The Curious History of Japan’s Balloon Bomb Attack on America. Coen answered a few questions about the book for UW Today. UWT: What’s the concept behind this book? RC: When we think about the history of World War …
Jeff Shaara may be the best contemporary writer of military history written as fiction. I recently finished The Final Storm. This is the fourth book in Shaara’s World War II series. The first three books take readers from North Africa to VE Day. The Final Storm moves to the Pacific Theater. The first chapter or two briefly …
I am a big fan of military histories – fact and fiction. For years my biggest gap was the American Civil War (War Between the States). I cannot tell you why this so because I do not know why. A friend, who is a big Civil war buff, finally shamed me into reading about it. …
David Downing is a superstar writer of WWII spy fiction. I have already read and reviewed Zoo Station, the first book in the John Russell series. I recently finished book 2, Silesian Station. Time wise, it follows book 1 by a few weeks. It is early summer 1939. John and his 12-year-old son are returning to Germany …
So, you think you know the whole story about WWII? I thought I did! That was before I started reading books by Ben Macintyre: Agent Zigzag, Operation Mincemeat, and finally Double Cross. I strongly recommend all three. Agent Zigzag follows one of the first double-triple-quadruple-crossing spies that MI5 recruited during WWII. Operation Mincemeat tells the more complete story …
“Jennifer Vanderbes (Easter Island; Strangers at the Feast) takes on the ravages of war in The Secret of Raven Point. It is 1943 when 17-year-old Juliet Dufresne graduates from high school. She and her brother, Tuck, are exceptionally close. When he’s declared missing in action, she takes a nursing course, lies about her age and …
Recently I found a book that was published originally in 1970: A Flock of Ships (ISBN 978-1906288358, trade paperback, $17.95, re-issued 2010). To my great surprise, it had been recently re-issued as a trade paperback. Thank goodness for astute editors. Brian Callison is the author of this terrific story of the British Merchant Marine during WWII. He …
If you are like me, you remember Hedy Lamarr as a beautiful actress from the 1930s to the 1960s. But did you know that Lamarr was also an inventor? Read Hedy’s Folly by Richard Rhodes to find out her contributions to the world of 21st Century communication systems. Hedy Lamarr dropped out of school when she …
