The Councilman by Glenn StarkeyMy rating: 0 of 5 stars
MWSA Review
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Thursday, May 23, 2019
Wednesday, May 22, 2019
Review: Descent The Forty Days After the Crucifixion of Jesus by DD Liters
Descent The Forty Days After the Crucifixion of Jesus by DD Liters by D.S. LliterasMy rating: 0 of 5 stars
MWSA Review
This simple story takes place during the first forty days after the crucifixion of Jesus. Jeshua and Flaccus are both on the run from Roman authorities when they take refuge with a community of Christian disciples. The two refugees, who understand that in Judea any new truth is dangerous, find the views of the disciples confusing. The believers speak of one story, but their listeners hear two different meanings. One sees a struggle for power while the other recognizes a commentary on the inherent nature of people. Christians cannot even seem to agree on the fundamental nature of Jesus. Was he a prophet, a rabbi, the Son of Man, or the Son of God?
Are their beliefs a political or a religious threat to the authorities?
Anyone who has read other works by D. S. Lliteras will recognize his riveting literary style. Descent is a thin volume. Its chapters may be long or as short as a half page, but each offers a single scene, titled by a simple phrase from the text. The sentences are short and direct: “A hungry dog growled.” “A man climbed the stairs.” “An owl hooted.” The vocabulary is simple.
But the ideas! Ah, the ideas spiral up and away, leading readers to perceive several different languages, taking them far beyond the events on the printed page.
In short, Lliteras has written a parable. He tells a fictitious story that serves as a protective shell for a moral lesson or a religious conviction. His words inspire rather than declare. They transform his listeners rather than dictating to them. He suggests an interpretation rather than demanding one. On the day of Pentecost, when tongues of fire descend upon the disciples enabling them to receive a Gift of the Spirit, the two refugees will hear two very different messages—and so will the readers of Descent.
Review by Carolyn Schriber (May 2019)
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Review: Echo in Ramadi: The Firsthand Story of US Marines in Iraq's Deadliest City
Echo in Ramadi: The Firsthand Story of US Marines in Iraq's Deadliest City by Scott A. HuesingMy rating: 0 of 5 stars
MWSA Review
Ramadi is the capital of Al Anbar province in Iraq. In 2006 it was the location for some of the bitterest fighting in Operation Iraqi Freedom as insurgents and Coalition Forces fought for control of the strategically important city. Into the middle of this cauldron of devastating urban warfare was thrust Echo Company, 2nd Battalion, 4th Marines led by then-Captain Scott A. Huesing.
Though well trained and leavened with a cadre of Iraq war veterans, the Echo Company Marines were still shocked by the ferocity of violence that greeted them during the height of the insurgency, something that never let up during the unit’s deployment.
Echo in Ramadi joins other books on the subject as an excellent account of the Battle of Ramadi. What sets it apart, and gives it a particularly gripping veracity, is that it’s a story of the unit told from the point of view of its commander. Huesing spares no detail, nor himself, in the telling of Echo Company’s effort to wrest neighborhoods from insurgent control. The result is a war with no quarter asked or given—one where, as he graphically details, rules of engagement are callously manipulated by the insurgents and turned into weapons against Coalition Forces.
Huesing’s narrative covers the gamut of Echo Company’s experience, from the bonding that began with training to the fellowship that grew stronger when the Marines went into battle. Huesing reveals the complexity of company command, from basic leadership to the stress of chaos of urban combat. The many interlocking layers of command responsibility are vividly recounted, no more so than when Huesing makes a satellite phone call from his command post to comfort the mother of a Marine under his command who had been wounded.
Huesing pulls no punches in revealing the physical and emotional cost of their deployment. The tally of the butcher’s bill paid by Echo Company did not end when they left Iraq, but continued after they returned to the States and later, after discharge. Along with the physical wounds were the psychological scars of post-traumatic stress that contributed to the suicides of some men from the company and to Huesing’s own brush with death in a single-vehicle automobile crash.
Echo in Ramadi is one of most powerful accounts of the Iraq war. Its page-turning narrative reveals the stark, gut-wrenching triumph and tragedy that is the human cost of war.
Review by Dwight Jon Zimmerman (May 2019)
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Monday, May 20, 2019
Friday, May 17, 2019
Wednesday, May 15, 2019
Tuesday, May 14, 2019
Review: Mother's Day: A War Story
Mother's Day: A War Story by William P SingleyMy rating: 0 of 5 stars
MWSA Review
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Monday, May 13, 2019
Review: Delta Sierra: A Novel of The Vietnam War
Delta Sierra: A Novel of The Vietnam War by Larry R. FryMy rating: 0 of 5 stars
MWSA Review
Larry Fry’s Delta Sierra is a riveting tale that perfectly captures the experience of the Vietnam attack pilots during one of America’s most controversial conflicts.
Gary Deale is a U.S. Air Force Academy graduate who wants to fly fighters. Realizing his dream, he is assigned to fly the F-105 Thunderchief, more commonly known as the “Thud,” and sent to Vietnam. Though designed and designated as a fighter, Thuds were used in Vietnam as attack aircraft, and soon Gary is going deep into North Vietnam to deliver bombs on target. Thud pilots paid a terrible price, with almost half of all Thuds produced being shot down in combat. Will he be able to complete a 100-mission tour?
Back home, Gary’s new bride Allison waits in anxious anticipation for his return. Every waking moment she wonders if she will see him again, or if at that moment, he is even still alive.
The author does a wonderful job of telling two stories, those of Gary and Allison. Gary’s story is told in third person, and Allison’s in first. It’s a bit unusual to switch back and forth between the two, but Fry makes it work. He masterfully weaves the two stories together, leaving the reader as much in the dark as Allison about her husband.
This is a very well done story, with gripping action, tender moments, and real human motion. Though fiction, it feels very real to the reader, and toward the end was very difficult to put down. Those looking to read about the true combat experience both in theater and on the home front will appreciate this book.
Review by Rob Ballister (May 2019)
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Review: Space Pioneers: In Their Own Words
Space Pioneers: In Their Own Words by Loretta HallMy rating: 0 of 5 stars
MWSA Review
The monumental 607-page book symbolizes the monumental work that author Loretta Hall must have done in order to write this book. By her own admission in a note to the reader, she has had more of a developmental editor role than author, although that does not undermine by any means the importance and magnitude of what she has had to do in order to bring Space Pioneers: In Their Own Words to the public. Quite the opposite, in fact.
The stories, which follow a chronological order, are told by the space pioneers themselves, as the title promises. The author, however, introduces most of the stories, which are told in a way that can interest an average reader who would otherwise be lost with too much technical jargon. Although the chapters are topic- and subject-based, I found that each chapter can potentially stand on its own, meaning one can easily hop from chapter 3 to chapter 9 without feeling as though one has missed much. Given the 90 personal accounts contained in this book, I would imagine readers could find it easy to focus on accounts that interest them more than others. I have, for example, experienced this myself when reading a few stories to my son, who is seven years old, and loves to learn about outer space. As a result of these stories, there is now one more boy who daydreams of, one day, becoming part of a book titled Space Pioneers.
Review by Brunella Costagliola (May 2019)
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Sunday, May 12, 2019
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Tuesday, May 7, 2019
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Review: At First Light: A True World War II Story of a Hero, His Bravery, and an Amazing Horse
At First Light: A True World War II Story of a Hero, His Bravery, and an Amazing Horse by Walt Larimore My rating: 0 o...
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Winged Brothers: Naval Aviation as Lived by Ernest and Macon Snowden by Ernest Snowden My rating: 0 of 5 stars ...
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Dark Waters by Chris Goff My rating: 0 of 5 stars MWSA Review Dark Waters by Chris Goff is an intricate...
