William L. McGee is an award-winning World War II Pacific war historian. His writing career has spanned six decades — three of them in marketing and sales in the broadcasting industry. He is a WWII veteran of the Pacific theater and an atomic veteran of Operation Crossroads, the postwar atomic bomb tests at the Bikini Atoll in 1946.
Published in 2000, this reference book makes previous chronologies of the Navy at war out-of-date. My co-author and wife, Sandra McGee, uses this chronology to create social media posts, such as “On this day…” or “75 Years Ago Today…”.
Ten years after the close of World War II, the U.S. Navy published achronology of its operations in the war. Long out of print, the work focused onwhat were then defined as critical and decisive events. It ignored a multitudeof combat actions as well as the loss or damage of many types of U.S. shipsand craft-particularly auxiliaries, amphibious ships, and district craft-andentirely omitted the U.S. submarine campaign against Japanese shipping, Thisgreatly expanded and updated study, now available in paperback with anindex, goes far beyond the original work, drawing on information from morethan forty additional years of historical research and writing.…
I’m a lifelong fantasy reader who sometimes gets tired of dark, brooding heroes. I love fast-talkers and troublemakers, who can be charming and funny while performing their daring deeds. Think: Antonio Banderas as Zorro or Disney’s fox version of Robin Hood. These characters throw themselves into danger to protect the people they love—often with a wink and a smile. In Curse Painter, a girl with a dark power gets recruited by an outlaw leader, Archer, who brings humor and light into her world when she needs it most. Together, they set out to do good by any means necessary. These five books feature more Robin Hood-like characters to love!
This is the fifth book in the epic Wheel of Time series. You should start with the first book,The Eye of the World, but I’m recommending this one because it’s when Mat Cauthon starts to come into his own as a character. Mat is incorrigible, a gambler and a rascal with a secret heart of bravery and self-sacrifice—not that he’d ever admit it! Mat makes mistakes and puts his foot in his mouth, but you can’t help loving him for it. His growth as a character throughout the series is unmatched, and he’s one of my favorite examples of the charming, flawed ne’er-do-well who ends up saving the day.
The Wheel of Time is now an original series on Prime Video, starring Rosamund Pike as Moiraine!
In The Fires of Heaven, the fifth novel in Robert Jordan’s #1 New York Times bestselling epic fantasy series, The Wheel of Time®, four of the most powerful Forsaken band together against the Champion of Light, Rand al’Thor.
Prophesized to defeat the Dark One, Rand al'Thor, the Dragon Reborn, has upset the balance of power across the land. Shaido Aiel are on the march, ravaging everything in their path. The White Tower's Amyrlin has been deposed, turning the Aes Sedai against one another.…
I’m fascinated with the relationship between personal growth and professional performance. Why is it in the same environment, doing the same work, some people can excel while others struggle? Most chalk it up to external circumstances that can’t be controlled. Others focus on tactics. But I’ve learned top-performers are masters at the human side of their work–the way they think, lead and serve–and that’s what gives them their edge. All of my work centers around infusing hard skills with improved soft skills, and getting better results in the process. That’s the stuff I find delicious, and it’s what I speak and write about.
I like tools and tactics, but when reading, I also like engaging stories. This book is loaded with them, offering a raw and authentic approach to leadership.
I liked how Willink and Babin pull valuable business takeaways from intense experiences on the battlefield. And I liked that a major takeaway is the importance of accepting absolute responsibility for what you do. No one’s going to argue with these guys.
Highly decorated Navy SEALs, now successful businessmen, show readers how to lead and win in business and in life with principles learned on the battlefield. In Extreme Ownership, Jocko Willink and Leif Babin share hard-hitting, Navy SEAL combat stories that translate into lessons for business and life. With riveting first-hand accounts of making high-pressure decisions as Navy SEAL battlefield leaders, this book is equally gripping for leaders who seek to dominate other arenas. Jocko and Leif served together in SEAL Task Unit Bruiser, the most highly decorated Special Operations unit from the war in Iraq. Their efforts contributed to the…
Coming from the perspective of a neurosurgeon, I have witnessed many successes and failures over more than four decades. I recognized decades ago that communication with patients at a level that involves emotions is a necessary part of being a complete physician. This involves being empathetic and, henceforth, digging deep to find the strength to be transparent, vulnerable, compassionate, understanding, and, when needed, forceful (some would call this paternalism). Although the five books I have chosen to highlight vary widely in content, they have one common theme – finding within us the will and wherewithal to succeed.
I truly like short books; perhaps this is related to the fact that my attention span is short as well. Quite simply, this book truly resonates with me. From this book, I learned that completing a mission can be an individual, rather than a team, endeavor
I learned that waiting for others to help may be ill-conceived and that accepting a mission while digging deep within oneself to find solutions and wherewithal is an attribute that we all should perhaps aspire to achieve. A Message to Garcia provided exactly that for me
This book is 32 pages – that’s it. Short and sweet, and with a clear message.
Elbert Hubbard (1856-1915) was an American writer, philosopher, publisher and artist, who founded the Roycroft Arts and Crafts community in East Aurora, New York. Hubbard set up a small printing shop next to his family home, where he began printing "The Philistine" magazine. The publication, quite popular in its time, was filled with Hubbard's sardonic wit, satire and often controversial commentary. An 1899 edition of the magazine included "A Message to Garcia", an inspirational essay celebrating the initiative of Major Andrew Rowan during the Spanish-American War. Hubbard said the essay was written after a discussion with his son Bert about…
William L. McGee is an award-winning World War II Pacific war historian. His writing career has spanned six decades — three of them in marketing and sales in the broadcasting industry. He is a WWII veteran of the Pacific theater and an atomic veteran of Operation Crossroads, the postwar atomic bomb tests at the Bikini Atoll in 1946.
Every military historian and-or editor needs this manual on their bookshelf. My editor’s preference for my books is to use both the Naval style as well as writing out military acronyms or abbreviations for the convenience of the reader.
This is the premier Guide to Professional Writing in the naval services and has been the standard guide for writing in the naval services for almost two decades.
Features of the new edition:
* New edition is has been updated and revised. * Contains a new chapter on"Writing Naval Emails" based on interviews with naval professionals, and also based on the best civilian guidance * Guides readers on the use of naval emails and the internet in relation to all manner of naval documents. * Explores"do's" and "don'ts" on writing emails, and on use of computer aids to writing in…
I grew up in the town of Yalta on the Black Sea. The sea had gotten its name because of its bad temper–storms, squalls, fogs. Warships never docked in Yalta, but passenger ships did. If the ship was a regular (and many were because people still used them to get from point A to point B), we recognized it by the sound of its horn. When passing by, the warships gave us a wide berth–dim silhouettes on the horizon on an unknown mission. I left Crimea for good many years ago, but I am still a sucker for bad-tempered seas and secretive navies.
The narrative is so vivid that it made me take sides, rooting for some characters and muttering something unprintable each time their nemeses did silly and/or ego-driven things. What I found astounding is that long after Pearl Harbor, U.S. Navy decision-making protocols remained confusingly tentative, and the chain of command was convoluted.
Only four men in American history have been promoted to the five-star rank of Admiral of the Fleet: William Leahy, Ernest King, Chester Nimitz and William Halsey. These four men were the best and the brightest the navy produced and together they led the U.S. navy to victory in World War II, establishing the United States as the world's greatest fleet.
In THE ADMIRALS, award-winning historian Walter R. Borneman tells their story in full detail for the first time. Drawing upon journals, ship logs, and other primary sources, he brings an incredible historical moment to life, showing us how the…
I am a retired U.S. Navy carrier pilot, having flown the A-7 Corsair II and F/A-18 Hornet operationally, and formerly the Executive Vice President of the Naval Aviation Museum Foundation. Over 20 years I have spoken about the battle to diverse audiences, and my historical fiction novel The Silver Waterfall was written without changing any facts of the battle and features the real men who fought it. I am also the author of the Raven One trilogy of aircraft carrier techno-thrillers.
Russell, moderator of the Battle of Midway Internet Round Table, goes further than Moore in that his interviews with the participants of the battle delve deeper into the Midway narrative and decision matrix. Up there alongside Parshall and Tully as the top experts on Midway, Russell through his first-hand accounts of Midway survivors – and their human perceptions - explores the controversies of Midway, such as the “Flight to Nowhere” and “eyewitness” testimony proved false by realities of geography and photographic evidence.
No Right to Win is highly recommended for advanced students of the battle and is recommended for those who have a baseline knowledge of Midway lore.
In 1942, one of the most powerful naval forces in history descended upon the tiny atoll of Midway, 1100 miles northwest of Hawaii. The Japanese intent was to lure America's badly depleted Pacific Fleet into the open where it would be overwhelmed, forcing the U.S. to end the Pacific War on Japanese terms. But it didn't happen that way. Through an amazing combination of skill, courage, and especially luck, U.S. not only prevailed at Midway but delivered to the enemy a crushing defeat that instantly changed the course of the war. No Right to Win is a fresh look at…
I'm a history professor at Toronto Metropolitan University (formerly Ryerson University). Before becoming a full-time academic, I worked in the museum field for 34 years where much of my work occurred at Historic Fort York. It dates from 1793, but the site today mainly contains War of 1812 buildings and fortifications constructed between 1813 and 1815. During my time there, I developed the artefact collection, curated exhibits, and served as the historical expert in the re-restoration of the grounds and eight heritage structures (which included a 20-year archaeological project associated with the restoration work). Beyond my museum career, four of my books focus on the Anglo-American conflict of 1812-1815.
We tend to reject older histories, but sometimes they maintain their currency and their importance – and thus remain in print and would find a respectable berth on a basic thematic bookshelf. One such work is Alfred T. Mahan’s two-volume Sea Power in its Relations to the War of 1812, first published in 1905. An officer in the United States Navy during the American Civil War, Mahan later joined the faculty of the Naval War College where he combined his professional experiences with close studies of historical records to examine the theme of sea power’s importance in history from the 17th century to his own time. His 1812 text was one of his works that proved to be influential in naval circles in Britain, France, the United States, and Japan in his day and afterwards. For modern readers, Sea Power is a well-written, accessible, but sophisticated study that not…
This book was converted from its physical edition to the digital format by a community of volunteers. You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery.
I am a retired U.S. Navy carrier pilot, having flown the A-7 Corsair II and F/A-18 Hornet operationally, and formerly the Executive Vice President of the Naval Aviation Museum Foundation. Over 20 years I have spoken about the battle to diverse audiences, and my historical fiction novel The Silver Waterfall was written without changing any facts of the battle and features the real men who fought it. I am also the author of the Raven One trilogy of aircraft carrier techno-thrillers.
It was the carrier-based dive-bombers that carried the day at Midway, and Moore’s narrative non-fiction account of the battle through the eyes of the actual men who fought at Midway in these dive-bombers is an entertaining and gripping page turner.
You learn of their fears, the uncertainty, and of their humble courage. Moore brings you with them in their SBD Dauntless cockpits. These men were what the United States had at the onset of the Pacific War, and Moore’s tribute to them is moving.
“Deeply researched and well written....By far the most detailed account of USS Enterprise’s dive-bombers and their decisive role at the Battle of Midway.”*
Sunday, December 7, 1941, dawned clear and bright over the Pacific....
But for the Dauntless dive-bomber crews of the USS Enterprise returning to their home base on Oahu, it was a morning from hell. Flying directly into the Japanese ambush at Pearl Harbor, they lost a third of their squadron and witnessed the heart of America’s Navy broken and smoldering on the oil-slicked waters below.
The next six months, from Pearl Harbor to the Battle of Midway—a…
I’m Steve R Dunn, a naval historian and author of twelve books of naval history, with two more commissioned for 2024 and 2025. As a child I used to invent naval fleets and have always loved the water. Now, I write about little-known aspects of the First World War at sea, and try to demonstrate that, despite the mass slaughter and ultimate victory on the Western Front, if Britain had lost command of the sea, the war would have been lost. The combination of recognisably modern weapons with Nelsonian command and control systems renders the naval side of WW1 endlessly fascinating to me.
This is the book that got me into naval history and made me want to be a naval historian.
Bennett was a serving officer in the RN and the son of a naval officer. He writes with pace, experience, and clarity about the major naval encounters of the First World War. It is a book that would be a good primer for anyone wanting to start the WW1 at sea journey. I purchased it in a second-hand bookshop in Cambridge and never looked back.
With the call to action stations in August 1914, the Royal Navy faced its greatest test since the time of Nelson.
This classic history of the Great War at sea combines graphic and stirring accounts of all the principal naval engagements -- battles overseas, in home waters and, for the first time, under the sea--with analysis of the strategy and tactics of both sides. Geoffrey Bennett brings these sea battles dramatically to life, and confirms the Allied navies' vital contribution to victory.
