Book Reviews and Book List

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Technical Change and British Naval Policy, 1860-1939

Bryan Ranft, Editor. New York: Holme & Meier Publishers, 178 pp. Bib. Ind.

1977. $19.50 ($17.55).*

Reviewed by Norman Friedman

(Dr. Friedman is a theoretical physicist currently concentrating on naval problems at the Hudson Institute. A Columbia University graduate, he has authored and coauthored articles and papers on the U.S.-Soviet naval balance, an analysis of Soviet naval missile ^systems and tactics, and warship design. His Writing has appeared in the Proceedings and the Naval Review.)

In a very significant sense, the posi­tion of the U. S. Navy since 1945 has been analogous to that of the Royal Navy from the middle of the 19th century onward. Each navy was by far the most powerful of its time, but each was confronted by radical changes *n naval technology which threatened to transform its role. In the U. S. case, the conclusion of World War II brought both the demise of the con­^Ventional naval opponent, Japan, and the rise of a much more sophisticated technology, apparently beyond the grasp of many naval strategists. Per­haps as a consequence, naval strategic and even tactical thought lost much of its prestige, but the new technology was pressed ahead. The consequence today is that, although the U. S. Navy retains a considerable lead in the quality of hardware, opponents within the United States often claim that jus­tifications for missions and indeed for force levels are little more than slightly revised versions of doctrines not seriously revised since about 1950—or perhaps 1945. Those con­cerned with this problem can do worse than look at the experience of the last preeminent navy in its period of rapid technical evolution, and that is the topic of this collection of seven essays.

As is common in such collections, the essays are of mixed quality and depth; but they are all valuable, and all had the effect of making this reader wish they had been about ten times as long. In particular, the footnotes are tantalizing: there is a large body of knowledge concerning the Royal Navy and its associated industrial base in the period between about I860 and

the end of World War I well known to those cognoscenti of the archival files of the National Maritime Museum, but unfortunately only rarely seen in print. For example, the British attache reports on the Russo- Japanese War, referred to here in an essay by Philip Towle, included one report on a Japanese tactic of dropping floating mines ahead of the Russian Fleet. The Russo-Japanese War was the only major naval war of the period between the introduction of the major pre-dreadnought technology and World War I; it performed a function similar to that which may have been performed for us by the wars in the Middle East—i.e., lessons rather spe­cific to the Russo-Japanese War may well have had a disproportionate effect on the Admiralty. In particular, Cap­tain Jellicoe, who would become commander of the British Grand Fleet in 1914, read this particular report, and when he faced a German fleet turning away from him two years later recalled the Japanese tactic and feared that mines were being dropped in his path. He refused to pursue the Ger­mans, and so lost the chance of a great

victory. Towle does not mention this point, but does analyze in some detail the way Russo-Japanese War evidence was used to support (and to attack) the revolutionary features of HMS Dread­nought. His essay should remain an ob­ject lesson for analysts of the few wars we have observed since 1945.

Towle’s is of course not the only essay in this volume which deserves our attention. David Lyon’s essay, on the relationship between the Ad­miralty and the British naval arms in­dustry, is particularly valuable. He ^suf!g^ests the importance of private in­dustry, and by extension of the sale of British naval technology abroad, in preserving a British technological lead: the parallel to the value of for­eign military sales today is clear. This reviewer’s only reservation is to be found in his wish that Lyon had gone further into the contribution foreign sales made to the British naval pro­duction base which functioned so well when it had to be mobilized in 1914, a calculation which might well be of current interest.

Modern analysts might also pay at­tention to the first essay in this vol­ume, by the editor, a professor at the Royal Naval College, Greenwich, on British theories of trade protection prior to World War I. Perhaps the central point is that no one in the Admiralty had a particularly realistic view of just what trade protection meant, and that in addition the con­voy doctrine which might well have proven effective was repeatedly re­jected as insufficiently offensive, in that it was not in accord with the Royal Navy’s view of itself as the serv­ice which carried the fight to the enemy. It would be comforting to feel that we have been far wiser, and in particular that we have avoided unreal­ity in our paper studies. However, Ranft’s essay shows that the real lapse in Admiralty analysis was ignorance of the problems of communication with the cruisers on station on the trade routes. Alas, communications and control have historically been among the last elements of technology to

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enter even post-World War II tactical studies. Nor have we found the funds to carry out the kind of worldwide ex­ercises which might test our own doc­trine for protection of the sea lanes.

Indeed, on reading the entire book, one’s chief reaction is one of humility: the Royal Navy was mighty, yet vio­lent technological change presented it with serious problems. It would be an arrogant man indeed who would be certain that we have always done bet­ter; a book like this should be a valu­able reminder that we must keep our own Navy in good order.

Perhaps the chief defect of these es­says is that nowhere do their authors connect their studies with more mod­ern problems. That is only natural; the Royal Navy of today does not share the problems of the Imperial force of the past, and in fact British postwar naval policy is still covered by the 30-year secrecy requirements. However, American policy is not, and American naval officers and naval analysts reading this history should always keep modern parallels in mind. Perhaps they will lead many to the lengthier accounts written by Arthur Marder for the period from 1880 through 1919 and by Stephen Roskill for the period from 1919 through 1939. It is unfortunate that there is no comparable account of U.S. naval development.

Finally, this reviewer must protest against so high a price for a volume which deserves a wider circulation.

Anchors in the Sky: Spuds Ellyson, The First Naval Aviator

RAdm. George van Deurs, USN (Ret.). San Rafael, Cal.: Presidio Press, 1978.

246 pp. Ulus. Bib. Ind. $12.95 ($10.25).*

Reviewed by Captain Paul B. Ryan,

U. S. Navy (Retired)

(A 1936 graduate of the Naval Academy, Captain Ryan holds two masters degrees and has held three commands at sea. In 1946­1947, he served as the chief engineer on hoard the Boxer (CV-21). He is presently a research associate at the Hoover Institution on War, Revolution and Peace at Stanford Uni­versity, California.)

Rear Admiral George van Deurs is

that avis rara, the naval officer who is also a competent historian. He has now taken upon himself the formid­able task of chronicling the lives and times of our early U. S. naval aviators, a job for which he is eminently suited. A Naval Academy graduate, class of 1921, who completed the flight course at Pensacola in 1923, van Deurs knew well many of those pioneers of the naval air arm. For those readers who were born too late, this informative and entertaining book tells how fleet aviation and the men who created it came of age.

His first book, Wings for the Fleet (Naval Institute Press, 1966), im­mediately established Admiral van Deurs as a leading practitioner in the art of writing fast-paced narrative his­tory. Wings deals with the fledgling phase of naval aviation from 1910 to 1916. In Anchors in the Sky, he has produced a follow-on book in the same genre. That is to say, the author again writes colorfully and in fascinating de­tail of naval officers, their exploits, their foibles, and their contributions.

Anchors in the Sky is a biography of Commander Theodore Gordon Elly­son, naval aviator No. 1, and a lead­ing wave-maker in an era when the role of naval air was a controversial topic. A spirited red-head from Richmond, Virginia, Spuds Ellyson treated protocol lightly, a trait that kept him in and out of hot water his entire career. Yet one admiral whom he had irritated wrote on his fitness report: ”... a zealous, efficient, de­voted officer. He deserved what he got [relieved of his command], but 1 should be glad to have him under my command. . . . He is an officer much above the average officer who never gets into trouble. . .” It is the mes­sage of the book that Ellyson could not have made such an impact on the naval air arm had he not bucked the system on occasion.

Ellyson’s feats are unique. He was the first naval officer to fly. He was the first naval flight instructor. He was the first to be catapulted in a float plane. He invented the power- stall landing. As an officer who could per­form well almost any job assigned to him, he worked with top-notch pilots. Glen Curtiss, a military airplane de-

signer for the Navy, taught him to fly °n the flats of “jack rabbit heaven,” now the huge Naval Air Station (N.a.s.) at Coronado, California. Later when Ellyson was executive officer of N.A.S., Norfolk, Virginia in 1921, Lieutenant A.M. (Mel) Pride (years later a Vice Admiral and Commander of the Seventh Fleet) was flying a low-powered Aeromarine at a turnta­ble to develop arresting gear for future carrier decks. But life also had its lighter moments.

On the China Station, the high jinks of Ellyson, Kenneth Whiting, and Aubrey (Jakey) Fitch (later Ad­miral and Superintendent of the Naval Academy), as recounted by the author, will evoke in naval officer readers nos­Talgic memories of their salad days.

As a professional writer, George van Deurs pays respect to the conventions °f historical writing. He combed the naval archives and the collection at the Library of Congress for evidence. He wrote scores of letters to those who knew and served with Ellyson and his colleagues. He studied filmed or re­corded interviews of Admirals John Towers, Patrick Bellinger, and Rufus Zogbaum, Jr., all of whom left their mark on the Navy and naval aviation. Among the author’s finds is a fine col­lection of old photographs which add Co the book’s appeal. On a critical note, some scholars undoubtedly will observe that the author, in using the device of direct conversation between his characters, attributes quotations to them that presumably are not provable from the evidence. Academics will also be unhappy with the absence of footnotes. We may assume that the author was writing for the average reader, not the scholar, and so chose to disregard these precepts.

From this wealth of material, van Deurs uncovered hitherto unpublished information which helps the reader to understand the bureaucratic obstacles that Ellyson and his friends faced. It turns out that Kenneth Whiting, Spuds’ academy roommate and long­time companion, was mainly respon­sible for convincing his seniors that the Navy must have aircraft carriers. Happily, Commanders Whiting and Ellyson, respectively, were the first execs of the Saratoga (CV-3) and Lexington (CV-2) designations when these giant ships were commissioned in 1927. Tragedy struck on 27 Febru­ary 1928 when Ellyson lost his life in a plane crash into the Chesapeake Bay while on a night flight. He was 43 years old.

In capturing the essence of these times, Admiral van Deurs does not neglect to show us the other side of the coin. That is to say, he explains the views of the naval decision-makers whom Ellyson sometimes bucked. As

it turns out, their decisions were, often as not, more justifiable than their innovative but impatient subor­dinates gave them credit for.

The theme that runs through the book is that the old Navy was basically an effective one. True, it had its share of what is called Mickey Mouse. For example, the Superinten­dent of the Academy directed Ellyson to change from work khakis to white service (the uniform-of-the-day) while he was preparing to make an ex­perimental catapult shot on the Santee Dock. Sure enough, the shot failed and Lieutenant Ellyson ended up in the Severn River, losing his white service jacket in the process.

Today, when the trend of resig­nation is rising among young naval aviators for reasons that include over­supervision, eroded benefits, coopera­tive management, and depersonaliza­tion, it is therapeutic to read how El­lyson and his contemporaries perse­vered over similar gripes. These were the men who as senior officers later led the fighting forces in World War II. The impressive list includes Towers, Halsey, Bellinger, Henry Mullinex, and J. J. "Jocko” Clark. In a sense their careers reflect their association with Spuds Ellyson, the man who did it first.

The Nazi Connection

F. W. Winterbotham, New York: Harper & Row, 1978. 222 pp. $8.95 ($8.06).*

Reviewed by Lieutenant Commander John C. Peters, U. S. Naval Reserve

(Lieutenant Commander Peters is a member of a Naval Reserve intelligence unit in San Diego.)

Former Group Captain Frederick W. Winterbotham, Royal Air Force, has contributed another interesting book about World War II espionage. He is also the author of The Ultra Se­cret, which appeared on the shelves of book stores about the same time as A Man Called Intrepid and Bodyguard of Lies. Those three books dealt with the then-new disclosures about World War II intelligence operations.

Winterbotham’s current effort is even better than his rather cryptic The Ultra Secret. The latter focused on the acquisition and use of the German "Enigma” cypher machine by the British at Bletchley, England, while The Nazi Connection provides the au­thor’s account of his intelligence­gathering activities in Germany dur­ing the 1930s.

Readers of The Nazi Connection probably will find some of Winter­botham’s personal experiences in Hit­ler’s Germany vicariously exciting. His wooing of some Germans to glean information about Nazi military de­velopments and plans seemingly put him in extremis on occasion. Accord­ingly, his actions elicited a sharp sur­veillance by Himmler and others in the Nazi hierarchy. He certainly in­teracted directly with the top officials

in the Third Reich.

Some of the recounted events, par­ticularly the 1938 Nuremberg Rally, reveal the almost pathological “devo­tion” by some Nazi Party members to Hitler. Clearly, emotional fetters often are stronger than any physical shack­les. No matter how frequently heard or read, it still remains a depressing thought that such an untermensch could gain such control over one of the lead­ing Western societies.

Winterbotham broaches several controversial subjects. Of special note is his discussion of the possibility that the British and the French in the mid-1950s could have dissuaded Hit­ler from attacking Western Europe. Thus, he would have been able to thrust his blitzkrieg on Eastern Europe, especially Russia where his most hated enemy, the Communists, prevailed. But the author believes that the events of 1938 precluded such a scenario.

This reviewer found the title of one of the book’s chapters, “Detente,” too current and somewhat disturbing. The readers of that detente might find a parallel in the post-World War II period. The Western powers, espe­cially we Americans, clearly were cog­nizant of and maybe overreactive to the Communist threat in the 1950s, when they certainly were much weaker than we. Now, when the Communists have greatly increased their capabilities, both economically and militarily, we somehow manage to look away from the harsh reality of the times.

For the military professional, Win­terbotham strongly emphasizes that, “A high-grade intelligence officer must be able to do much more than collate information. He must be able to give a general impression of the mood of the country he is working against; he must be able to assess the leaders’ will to carry out war, and to evaluate the competence and charac­ters of the generals.”

One must wonder if today’s empha­sis on form and procedure discourages any meaningful analytical effort by our intelligence operators.

u. s.

Naval

Fighters

Navy /

Marine Corps 1922 to 1980s

By Lloyd S. Jones

At last, here is a single volume that documents every American and Marine Corps fighter since 1922! U. S. Naval Fighters includes the rare, one-of-a-kind experimental designs and the mysterious, unbuilt miss­ing links in the geneology of the American carrier fighter, as well as all of the great and successful aircraft that have served so well since the days of the wood and fabric VE-7.

Lloyd S. Jones, an aviation enthusiast and modeler since the days of his childhood, presents a chronological sequence of aircraft, each of which is illustrated with high quality photos and three-view drawings. The design and development is traced in a thoroughly detailed text that includes complete dimensions, performance statistics, and arma­ment. For modelers, each drawing has been carefully scaled and an entire chapter is devoted to painting schemes for each type. A re­markable chart has also been included that depicts every plane in the same scale so that the entire history of Navy and Marine Corps fight­ers can be viewed at a glance for easy comparison.

U. .S’. A aval Fighters is a triumphant achievement, a comprehensive reference that will also serve as a lasting tribute to the American naval aviator of yesterday, today, and into the future.

A Naval Institute Book Selection. 1977/352 pages/illustrated List price: $14.95 Member’s price: $11.95

Add SI .00 to each order for postage and handling. (Please use hook order form in Boob of Interest to the Professional section)

Books of Interest to the Professional

Compiled by Professor Jack Sweetman, Associate Editor

naval affairs

Uss Arizona (BB-39)

Norman Friedman, Arthur D. Baker, III,

Lt. Cdr. Arnold S. Lott, USN (Ret.) and HTC Robert F. Sumrall, USNR. Annapolis, Md.: Leeward Publications, 1978. 48 pp. Illus.

*3.95 (3.56).

The destruction of the battleship Arizona, which blew up with the loss of 1,177 lives, was the greatest single blow struck by the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. The ship’s technical and operational his­tory is presented in Leeward Publication’s Ship’s Data” Number 3. The illustrations include a fold-out plan and two full-color waterline renderings.

Bligh

Gavin Kennedy. London: Gerald Duckworth & Go., 1978 (American distribution by Southwest hook Services, Dallas, Texas). 420 pp. Illus. Maps. Bib. Ind. $14.95.

On 28 April 1789, Captain William Bligh Was deposed of command of HMS Bounty by a mutiny led by Lieutenant Fletcher Christian. Although the mutiny on the Bounty was only one of many dramatic ^episodes in Bligh's eventful life, which in­cluded command of ships-of-the-line at the battles of Camperdown and Copenhagen and a controversial tour as governor of New South Wales, it is the one for which he is remembered—as an abusive tyrant. A major revisionist biography by a British academic contends that Bligh’s evil reputa­tion is undeserved and that by contempo­rary standards he was a relatively moderate disciplinarian.

The Corvette Navy: True Stories from Canada’s Atlantic War

James B. Lamb. Toronto, Canada: Macmillian of Canada, 1978. 179 pp. $10.95.

During World War II, corvettes of the Royal Canadian Navy, manned mostly by reservists, joined British and American forces in the war against German U-boats in the North Atlantic. That cold and fonely struggle is recalled in a marvelous memoir by a former reserve officer who ended the war in command of one of these corvettes.

[Jj Fast Fighting Boats 1870-1945: Their Design, Construction and Use

Harald Fock. Annapolis, Md.: Naval Institute Press, 1978. 304 pp. Illus. Append. Bib. $27.95 ($22.35).

An abridgement of the first two volumes of the German work Schnellboote, originally published in 1973, this book describes the

development of small, fast fighting craft from the late 19th century through World War II.

Fighting Sail

A.B.C. Whipple and the Editors of Time-Life Books. Alexandria, Va.: Time-Life Books,

1978. 184 pp. Illus. Bib. Ind. $9.95 ($8.96).

The Pirates, the first volume in Time-Life’s series "The Seafarers” (reviewed in the Sep­tember 1978 Proceedings), was impressive in both text and illustrations. This new publication meets the high standards set by its predecessor. Less global in scope than its title would suggest, it is basically a history of the Royal Navy in action from the Battle of the Virginia Capes to Trafal­gar. The selection and quality of the illus­trations, many in color, are superb.

Grosskampfschiffe 1905-1970: Eine Dokumentation in Bildern. Band 2:

USA and Japan (Ships of the Line 1905-1970: A Pictorial Documentary. Volume 2: USA and Japan)

Siegfried Breyer. Munich: Bernard & Graefe, 1978. 176 pp. Illus. Maps. Append. Ind. DM 48 (Approx. $25.00)

The second volume of this splendid picto­rial survey of dreadnought battleships and battlecruisers treats those of the United States and Japan. The first volume (Eng­land and Germany) was reviewed in the April 1978 Proceedings. The third and con­cluding volume is scheduled for publica­tion later this year.

H U-Boat War

Lothar-Giinther Buchheim, translated by Gudie Lawaetz. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1978. Pages not numbered. Illus. $17.50 ($14.00).

The German side of the Battle of the At­lantic is brought to life by a collection of 205 remarkable photographs and a fine supporting text by a former German Navy combat artist.

MARITIME AFFAIRS

The Great Explorers: The European

Discovery of America

Samuel Eliot Morison. New York: Oxford University Press, 1978. 752 pp. Illus. Maps. Ind. $17.95 ($16.16).

The highlights of Samuel Eliot Morison’s monumental history of the voyages of dis­covery to North and South America have been abridged in this handsome volume.

The Journal of Gideon Olmsted: Adventures of a Sea Captain during the American Revolution

Gerald W. Gawalt, Editor. Washington, D.C.: Library of Congress, 1978. 129 pp. Illus. Append. $17.50 (slipcased).

Setting out on a peaceful trading voyage to Guadeloupe in December 1777, Gideon Olmsted was captured by a British war­ship, spent six harrowing months in cap­tivity, and eventually organized a success­ful mutiny on the British sloop Active, which he sailed home to America. His journal of these adventures is published in

facsimile in an elegantly printed and intel­ligently edited volume, a part of the Li­brary of Congress Bicentennial program.

Tales of the Caribbean: A Feast of Islands

Fritz Seyfarth. Clinton Corners, N.Y.: John de Graff (distributed by David McKay, New York), 1978. 167 pp. Illus. Maps. Bib. $12.50.

The author of this beguiling book has spent seven years vagabonding through the Caribbean in his 40-foot ketch Tumble­weed—and plans to spend more. His col­lection of tales and tips about life in the islands is the result of that experience.

MILITARY AFFAIRS Armies of the World, 1854-1914

David Woodward. New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1978. 189 pp. Illus. Ind. $12.95 ($11.66).

The years between the Crimean War and World War I were characterized by a rapid advance in military and related technol­ogy. This work surveys the evolution and experiences of the world’s major armies during that era. It is illustrated by 150 period photographs.

Assault from the Sky: A History of Airborne Warfare

John Weeks. New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1978. 192 pp. Illus. Maps. Bib. Ind. $20.00 ($18.00).

The history of airborne operations is traced in a well-executed pictorial. The author is a veteran of more than 30 years service as

an officer in the British airborne forces.

Cavalry: The History of Mounted Warfare

John Ellis. New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1978. 192 pp. Illus. Bib. Ind. $20.00 ($18.00).

, Finally vanquished by the machine gun early in the 20th century, horsed cavalry had survived 3,000 years of technological change to remain a viable and, for many centuries, the decisive (as well as the most romantic) combat arm. This attractive pic­torial reviews its long history.

F- 111

Bill Gunsron. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1978. 112 pp. Illus. Append. $9.95.

British aviation writer Bill Gunston relates the history of the F-111 fighter-bomber, one of the most controversial aircraft of re­cent years, from its development in the early 1960s through the Vietnam War. Its adoption by the Royal Air Force and the Royal Australian Air Force is also treated.

Wings of the Luftwaffe: Flying German Aircraft of the Second World War

Capt. Eric Brown, CBE, DSC, AFC, RN (Ret.). Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1978. 176 pp. Illus. $10.95 ($9.86).

One of Britain's most distinguished test pilots evaluates the flying qualities of 17 of the best-known German aircraft of World War II, on the basis of his personal experience at the controls of captured types. The illustrations, which include de­tail cockpit drawings, are outstanding.

INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS

The Ides of August: The Berlin Wall Crisis, 1961

Curtis Cate. New York: M. Evans and Company, 1978. 534 pp. Illus. Maps. Bib. Ind. $15.00 ($13.50).

The erection of the Berlin Wall in August 1961 was one of the most dramatic mo­ments in the history of the Cold War. The author of this readable narrative, which in­terweaves human interest and high policy, concludes that it was also one of the least effective moments in the history of Ameri­can diplomacy.

GENERAL

The Glorious Scoundrel: A Biography of Captain John Smith

Noel B. Gerson, New York: Dodd, Mead & Company, 1978. 251 pp. Illus. Bib. Ind.

$7.95 ($7.16).

Soldier, sailor, cartographer, colonist, au­thor, and explorer, John Smith was a man for many seasons. He was also his own worst enemy, an incurable romancer whose exaggerations finally cast his real and sub­stantial achievements into doubt. His var­ied life is recorded in a popular biography.

Hitler: The Pictorial Documentary of His Life

John Toland. Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1978. 205 pp. Illus. Maps. $14.95 ($13.46).

John Toland’s massive biography of Adolf Hitler was one of the best sellers of 19*76- This book, a sort of supplement to it, con­tains 465 photographs, many never before published, relating to Hitler's life.

The Observer’s Spaceflight Directory

Reginald Turnill. London: Frederick Warne, 1978. 384 pp. Illus. Ind. L' 7.50 (Approx. *15.00) ($13.50).

Since the flight of the Soviet Sputnik I in October 1957, more than 2,000 satellites and space vehicles have been launched. The technology and achievements of the world’s space programs are chronicled in this handy reference.

book order service

All prices enclosed by parentheses are mem­ber prices. Members may order most books of other publishers through the Naval Institute at a 10% discount off list price. (Prices quoted in this column are subject to change and will be reflected in our billing.) The postage and han­dling fee for each such special order book of a United States publisher will be $1.00; the fee for a book from a foreign publisher will be *1.50. When air mail or other special handling is requested, actual postage and handling cost will be billed to the member. Books marked E5are Naval Institute Press Books. Books marked g are Naval Institute Book Selections. Please use the order blank in this section.

The Peace Ship; Henry Ford’s Pacifist Adventure in the First World War

Barbaras. Kraft. New York: Macmillan, 1978. 367 pp. Illus. Append. Bib. Ind. $14.95 ($13.46).

On 4 December 1915, Henry Ford and a group of fellow pacifists set sail from Hoboken, New Jersey, on the chartered steamer Oscar II on a unique mission of unofficial diplomacy—to mediate an end to World War I, possibly by Christmas. The story of their ill-fated expedition is re­lated in a well-documented history.

D Written in Blood: The Story of the Haitian People, 1492-1971

Col. Robert Debs Heinl, Jr., USMC (Ret.), and Nancy Gordon Heinl. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1978. 785 pp. Illus. Maps. Append. Bib. Ind. $21.95 ($17.56).

The turbulent history of Haiti is related in a well-researched and highly readable nar­rative. Proceedings’ readers will be espe­cially interested in the chapter on the Marine Corps' intervention, 1915-1934. Colonel Heinl was commander of the U.S. Naval Mission to Haiti from 1959 until expelled by the Duvalier regime in 1963. He is the author of numerous books on naval and Marine Corps subjects, includ­ing Soldiers of the Sea: The United States Marine Corps, 1775-1962, and Victory at High Tide.

REPRINTS

A Pictorial History of the United States Army: In War and Peace, From Colonial Times to Vietnam

Col. Gene Gurney, USAF (Ret.). New York: Crown Publishers, 1977. 815 pp. Illus. Maps. Append. Ind. $14.95 ($13.46).

The history of the U. S. Army is recorded in over 3,000 illustrations. The latter in­clude two color folios devoted to military heraldry. This is the fourth printing of a work originally published in 1966.

RECORDINGS

December 7, 1941—Day of Infamy

Honolulu, Hawaii: Kalmar Company, 1978. Playing time: Approx. 51 minutes (33 1/3 RPM LP record or tape cassette). $5.95 retail; $6.50, including postage and handling.

Radio newscasts that informed a stunned nation that Japanese planes were attacking Pearl Harbor have been assembled on a documentary recording. President Roosevelt’s “Day of Infamy" address to the joint session of Congress on 8 December and his “Fireside Chat’’ of 9 December are included.