Ships Books

Danger's Hour: The Story of the USS Bunker Hill and the Kamikaze Pilot Who Crippled Her

Maxwell Taylor Kennedy

Amazon Price: $72.99 List Price: $99.99 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Tantor Media Amazon Marketplace: 11 new & used starting at $67.04

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> History -> Americas -> United States -> General
Subjects -> History -> Americas -> United States -> General AAS
Subjects -> History -> Military -> Naval

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 3 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Finding the Enemy 5 out of 5 stars.
15 of 15 people found this review helpful.

Maxwell Taylor Kennedy's book about the kamikaze attack on the USS BUNKER HILL is a powerful and arresting account of World War II. Kennedy has done his homework and his research is impressive. He based this book on work in the National Archives, using after-action reports and log books, but also interviews with surviving crewmen. The problem with oral histories done many years later is that they often give the survivors a larger voice than they might otherwise deserve just because they survived. Kennedy compensates for this glitch by becoming a historian/detective. He contacted the families of many deceased members of the crew and got access to their letters and diaries. The result is an account that is informative and reads well.

Kennedy also interviewed a number of kamikaze alumni and shows--quite rightly--that none of them were crazy monsters or suicidal fanatics. He manages to give the other side, humanity and develops their point of view, something which is often lacking in English-language studies of the Pacific Theater. His argument that the ship and the kamikazes represent two different ways of war is exaggerated, and distorts more than it helps. He is, however, dead on the mark when he contends that the Japanese suicide pilots offer lessons important and relevant to the Long War/Global War on Terrorism. By comparing the accounts, records, and/or artifacts of American and Japanese participants in this kamikaze campaign, Kennedy even manages to indentify the pilot that slammed into the BUNKER HILL, Ensign Ogawa Kiyoshi. Using interviews with Ogawa's friends and family, he gives his readers a personality sketch of a reluctant kamikaze. This type of material is fresh and new, but since Kennedy must depend on others to explain Ogawa, the pilot never emerges as a fully developed personality.

The book becomes much stronger when it comes to the actual attack. Kennedy's coverage is detailed. The photographs that litter the text are one of the most striking parts of this book. Kennedy pulls no punches and includes images of dead Americans. The bodies in these illustrations are often in bad shape, which brings home the real nature of war. Drawings of the ship and its compartments in the inside of the binding/cover are an important addition.

Readers looking for a good account of the War in the Pacific will enjoy this entertaining and informative read.

Editorial Review:

Band of Brothers meets Masters of the Air in this riveting history of the deadly kamikaze attack on the USS Bunker Hill in the final days of World War II---as told by an author with a unique historical vantage point.

Jewish Pirates of the Caribbean: How a Generation of Swashbuckling Jews Carved Out an Empire in the New World in Their Quest for Treasure, Religious Freedom--and Revenge

Edward Kritzler

Amazon Price: $17.16 List Price: $26.00 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Doubleday Amazon Marketplace: 31 new & used starting at $16.49

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> History -> Americas -> Caribbean & West Indies -> General
Subjects -> History -> Americas -> Caribbean & West Indies -> General AAS
Subjects -> History -> World -> Jewish -> General

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 4 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

At the end of the fifteenth century, the Spanish Inquisition forced many Jews to flee the country. The most adventurous among them took to the high seas as freewheeling outlaws. In ships bearing names such as the Prophet Samuel, Queen Esther, and Shield of Abraham, they attacked and plundered the Spanish fleet while forming alliances with other European powers to ensure the safety of Jews living in hiding.

JEWISH PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN is the entertaining saga of a hidden chapter in Jewish history and of the cruelty, terror, and greed that flourished during the Age of Discovery. Readers will meet such daring figures as “the Great Jewish Pirate” Sinan, Barbarossa’s second-in-command; the pirate rabbi Samuel Palache, who founded Holland's Jewish community; Abraham Cohen Henriques, an arms dealer who used his cunning and economic muscle to find safe havens for other Jews; and his pirate brother Moses, who is credited with the capture of the Spanish silver fleet in 1628--the largest heist in pirate history.

Filled with high-sea adventures—including encounters with Captain Morgan and other legendary pirates—and detailed portraits of cities stacked high with plunder, such as Port Royal, Jamaica, JEWISH PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN captures a gritty and glorious era of history from an unusual and eye-opening perspective.

With the Old Breed: At Peleliu and Okinawa (Classics of Naval Literature)

E. B. Sledge

List Price: $34.95 By: US Naval Institute Press Amazon Marketplace: 6 new & used starting at $46.61

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> History -> Europe -> General
Subjects -> History -> Europe -> General AAS
Subjects -> History -> Military -> Naval

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 201 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

In his own book, Wartime, Paul Fussell called With the Old Breed "one of the finest memoirs to emerge from any war." John Keegan referred to it in The Second World War as "one of the most arresting documents in war literature." And Studs Terkel was so fascinated with the story he interviewed its author for his book, "The Good War." What has made E.B. Sledge's memoir of his experience fighting in the South Pacific during World War II so devastatingly powerful is its sheer honest simplicity and compassion.
Now including a new introduction by Paul Fussell, With the Old Breed presents a stirring, personal account of the vitality and bravery of the Marines in the battles at Peleliu and Okinawa. Born in Mobile, Alabama in 1923 and raised on riding, hunting, fishing, and a respect for history and legendary heroes such as George Washington and Daniel Boone, Eugene Bondurant Sledge (later called "Sledgehammer" by his Marine Corps buddies) joined the Marines the year after the bombing of Pearl Harbor and from 1943 to 1946 endured the events recorded in this book. In those years, he passed, often painfully, from innocence to experience.
Sledge enlisted out of patriotism, idealism, and youthful courage, but once he landed on the beach at Peleliu, it was purely a struggle for survival. Based on the notes he kept on slips of paper tucked secretly away in his New Testament, he simply and directly recalls those long months, mincing no words and sparing no pain. The reality of battle meant unbearable heat, deafening gunfire, unimaginable brutality and cruelty, the stench of death, and, above all, constant fear. Sledge still has nightmares about "the bloody, muddy month of May on Okinawa." But, as he also tellingly reveals, the bonds of friendship formed then will never be severed.
Sledge's honesty and compassion for the other marines, even complete strangers, sets him apart as a memoirist of war. Read as sobering history or as high adventure, With the Old Breed is a moving chronicle of action and courage.

Endurance

Alfred Lansing

Amazon Price: $56.95 List Price: $56.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Blackstone Audiobooks Amazon Marketplace: 8 new & used starting at $5.00

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Biographies & Memoirs -> Specific Groups -> Adventurers & Explorers
Subjects -> Biographies & Memoirs -> General
Subjects -> Biographies & Memoirs -> General AAS

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 392 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Just Incredible Account ,Absolutely Incredible 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

This account of Shackelton's expedition to Antarctic is a read like no other. I could not put this book down,nor could I believe the constitution each person on the crew had to continue forth under such insurmountable odds. The author, Lansing has provided a compelling book. His research of events are smoothly seamed together captivating the reader. Even if ones interest usually doesn't lean toward the topic of explorer, I promise you this book will consume you. Its message is especially good for any of us who may be feeling "overwhelmed" by what our lives are tossing our way... you will be giving thanks at the comforts you have by comparison to this expeditions minimal articles to provide their continued existence. As another reviewer mentioned, buy the hard or soft-cover not paperback version as these include all of Hurley's photographs which are essential to this book-seeing is believing and you won't believe what this photographer captured. Enjoy, you will share the events of this book over and over with many.

Editorial Review:

In October 1915 the ship Endurance was crushed by Anarctic ice, and the crew became castaways in one of the harshest regions of the world. Their adventures make one of the most intense, gripping stories ever written. 8 cassettes.

Escape from the Deep: A Legendary Submarine and Her Courageous Crew

Alex Kershaw

Amazon Price: $18.46 List Price: $26.00 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Da Capo Press Amazon Marketplace: 94 new & used starting at $1.02

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> History -> Asia -> General
Subjects -> History -> Asia -> General AAS
Subjects -> History -> Middle East -> Iran

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 19 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

The adrenaline-soaked story of nine men who fought the Japanese from America's deadliest submarine, survived its sinkage, and endured months of brutal torture in captivity.

By October, 1944, the U.S. Navy submarine Tang was legendary--she had sunk more enemy ships, rescued more downed airmen, and pulled off more daring surface attacks than any other Allied submarine in the Pacific. And then, on her fifth patrol, tragedy struck--the Tang was hit by one of her own faulty torpedoes. The survivors of the explosion struggled to stay alive in their submerged "iron coffin" one hundred-eighty feet beneath the surface. While the Japanese dropped deadly depth charges, just nine of the original eighty-man crew survived a harrowing ascent through the escape hatch.

But a far greater ordeal was coming. After being picked up by a Japanese patrol vessel, they were sent to a secret Japanese interrogation camp known as the "Torture Farm." They were close to death when finally liberated in August, 1945, but they had revealed nothing to the Japanese--not even the greatest secret of World War II.

Titanic's Last Secrets: The Further Adventures of Shadow Divers John Chatterton and Richie Kohler (Thorndike Press Large Print Nonfiction Series)

Brad Matsen

Amazon Price: $26.36 List Price: $32.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Thorndike Press Amazon Marketplace: 5 new & used starting at $12.99

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> History -> World -> Transportation -> Ships -> General
Subjects -> History -> World -> Transportation -> Ships -> Ships & Shipwrecks
Subjects -> History -> World -> Transportation -> Ships -> Titanic

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 21 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

After rewriting history with their discovery of a Nazi U-boat off the coast of New Jersey, legendary divers John Chatterton and Richie Kohler decided to investigate the great enduring mystery of history's most notorious shipwreck: Why did Titanic sink as quickly as it did?

To answer the question, Chatterton and Kohler assemble a team of experts to explore Titanic, study its engineering, and dive to the wreck of its sister ship, Brittanic, where Titanic's last secrets may be revealed.

Titanic's Last Secrets is a rollercoaster ride through the shipbuilding history, the transatlantic luxury liner business, and shipwreck forensics. Chatterton and Kohler weave their way through a labyrinth of clues to discover that Titanic was not the strong, heroic ship the world thought she was and that the men who built her covered up her flaws when disaster struck. If Titanic had remained afloat for just two hours longer than she did, more than two thousand people would have lived instead of died, and the myth of the great ship would be one of rescue instead of tragedy.

Titanic's Last Secrets is the never-before-told story of the Ship of Dreams, a contemporary adventure that solves a historical mystery.

In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex

Nathaniel Philbrick

Amazon Price: $10.20 List Price: $15.00 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Penguin (Non-Classics) Amazon Marketplace: 410 new & used starting at $0.01

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> History -> Americas -> Mexico
Subjects -> History -> Americas -> United States -> 19th Century -> General
Subjects -> History -> Americas -> United States -> General

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 284 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Excellent and Enthralling Book from a most Perspicacious Author 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

This harrowing, hair-raising adventure story and testament to American ingenuity and resourcefulness is a thrill to read. Philbrick recounts the disaster of the Whaleship Essex largely relying on a careful selection of accounts from the memoirs of First Mate Owen Chase and Boatsteerer Thomas Nickerson that are peppered with interesting and informative annotations from a wealth of other sources.

Clearly the author has an advantage in writing about such an exciting and well documented story, but Philbrick sets himself apart in that he lacks the pretension and glibness of many contemporary historians. For example, nautical terms are used throughout, but not in way that is mired in the nitty-gritty (although the notes provide additional depth) and a clearly labeled illustration is quite enabling for the "coof" (off-islander) or layman reader. Furthermore, the numerous asides do not disrupt the story, but enhance it due to the thoughtfulness and subtly of the author.

This is an excellent and enthralling book from a most perspicacious author. Like the piece of twine weaved together and preserved by Essex survivor Benjamin Lawrence to remind Lawrence of his experience, Philbrick creates quite a yarn that will ensure the survival of the story of the Whaleship Essex for generations to come.

Editorial Review:

The ordeal of the whaleship Essex was an event as mythic in the nineteenth century as the sinking of the Titanic was in the twentieth. In 1819, the Essex left Nantucket for the South Pacific with twenty crew members aboard. In the middle of the South Pacific the ship was rammed and sunk by an angry sperm whale. The crew drifted for more than ninety days in three tiny whaleboats, succumbing to weather, hunger, disease, and ultimately turning to drastic measures in the fight for survival. Nathaniel Philbrick uses little-known documents-including a long-lost account written by the ship's cabin boy-and penetrating details about whaling and the Nantucket community to reveal the chilling events surrounding this epic maritime disaster. An intense and mesmerizing read, In the Heart of the Sea is a monumental work of history forever placing the Essex tragedy in the American historical canon.

Empires of the Sea: The Siege of Malta, the Battle of Lepanto, and the Contest for the Center of the World

Roger Crowley

Amazon Price: $23.09 List Price: $34.99 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Tantor Media Amazon Marketplace: 27 new & used starting at $19.60

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> History -> Europe -> General
Subjects -> History -> Europe -> General AAS
Subjects -> History -> Military -> Naval

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 29 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Empires of the Sea 5 out of 5 stars.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.

This was an exceptional book of history. I found myself sitting up well past midnight in order to reach the end of a major section. Gripping and extremely informative. I would recommend it with enthusiasm. Two other excellent books helped lay a groundwork for my appreciation of this work. Norwich's 3 volume Byzantium is an exceptional piece of work. When I reached the end, I was wishing for a fourth volume. Short of that, Mansel's excellent Constantinople picks up where Norwich leaves off and completes the history through the end of the Ottoman empire. For anyone wishing to have a sweeping sense of the important history of the eastern Mediterranean, I can recommend all these volumes with gusto.

Editorial Review:

Set during the height of the Ottoman Empire and with Christendom weakened and vulnerable, this is the story of the fifty-year battle for domination of the Mediterranean, centered around the titanic battles of Rhodes, Malta, and Lepanto---three of the most dramatic and decisive battles in world history.

Inside the Titanic (A Giant Cutaway Book)

Hugh Brewster

Amazon Price: $13.59 List Price: $19.99 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Madison Press Book - Little, Brown & Company Amazon Marketplace: 51 new & used starting at $7.94

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Children's Books -> Ages 4-8 -> General
Subjects -> Children's Books -> Ages 4-8 -> General AAS
Subjects -> Children's Books -> History & Historical Fiction -> Modern

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 39 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

good book for kids 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

this is a good book for kids who are intersted in titanic.my nephew love this book,buys every book he can find on it.

Great book for Children interested in the Titanic 4 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

After reading a short story in Reading class, my daughters became very curious about the Titanic. This book is a good overview of the ship and the voyage.

TITANIC CUTAWAY 3 out of 5 stars.
0 of 3 people found this review helpful.

fun book to look at, but not nearly as detailed as I would have liked. Seems to be aimed at a young audience. well worth the price if you want a lite look inside the great ship. a welcome addition to my Titanic library.

Disappointed 1 out of 5 stars.
0 of 2 people found this review helpful.

Based on the reviews I read, I was expecting an unbelievable book. First of all, I expected a cut out pop up book. The pictures were deceiving online. The "cutaway" is just a one dimensional picture of inside the ship. Obviously other people liked it. It did not meet our needs.

Cris, Ga

Editorial Review:

Allows young readers to journey inside the Titanic to view the layout of the great doomed ocean liner, such as the compartments, engine room, upper decks, and more, through detailed, cutaway illustrations."

The Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors: The Extraordinary World War II Story of the U.S. Navy's Finest Hour

James D. Hornfischer

Amazon Price: $10.20 List Price: $15.00 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Bantam Amazon Marketplace: 62 new & used starting at $3.85

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> History -> Americas -> General
Subjects -> History -> Americas -> General AAS
Subjects -> History -> Military -> Naval

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 129 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

“This will be a fight against overwhelming odds from which survival cannot be expected. We will do what damage we can.”

With these words, Lieutenant Commander Robert W. Copeland addressed the crew of the destroyer escort USS Samuel B. Roberts on the morning of October 25, 1944, off the Philippine Island of Samar. On the horizon loomed the mightiest ships of the Japanese navy, a massive fleet that represented the last hope of a staggering empire. All that stood between it and Douglas MacArthur’s vulnerable invasion force were the Roberts and the other small ships of a tiny American flotilla poised to charge into history.

In the tradition of the #1 New York Times bestseller Flags of Our Fathers, James D. Hornfischer paints an unprecedented portrait of the Battle of Samar, a naval engagement unlike any other in U.S. history—and captures with unforgettable intensity the men, the strategies, and the sacrifices that turned certain defeat into a legendary victory.


From the Hardcover edition.