Raven Rock (Five Stars)

Following the Soviet detonation of their first atomic bomb the United States government had to look at the possibility that Washington D.C. could be destroyed, totally and with little or no notice. Thus began the plans for Continuity of Government (COG) to ensure that the government of the United States would go on and, perhaps more importantly, that the United States' nuclear retaliation would be swift and sure.




Graff's book follows the efforts to build bunkers, first in D.C. and later in the surrounding states when the USSR detonated their own H-bombs. Plans were laid to keep the Selective Service System running so new soldiers could be drafted and trained and deployed to fight WWIII. The Federal Reserve printed and stored $4 billion in currency to spend in the aftermath of a nuclear attack. Congress would meet in a secret underground facility under a luxury hotel, ready to pass new laws for a post-nuclear USA. The post office would track who was alive and who was dead... and use their vehicles to transport casualties.




Using declassified material, interviews with personnel involved in COG planning and those who were to participate in emergency plans, Raven Rock discusses not just the plans to preserve the government but the extraordinary measures in place to ensure that U.S. nuclear weapons would be available to hit back. When even underground bunkers seemed unlikely to survive then airborne options became the means to preserve command and control. In all of this, the efforts to protect the ordinary U.S. citizen fell by the wayside but there were plans for that as well.
A very well-written account of a government we never knew we had. Illustrated with excellent photographs.

The Complete Infidel's Guide to Free Speech (and its enemies) (Four Stars)

Robert Spencer looks at free speech and how it is under assault by leftists and Islamacists using public correctness, threats, intimidation and double-standards. Protected under an umbrella that states "you shouldn't offend this group" verbatim quotes from the Quran and the accurately-rendered Muslim names of terror suspects are squashed in an effort to placate the Islamofascists; on campus snowflakes confronted with ideas they disagree with (or simply can't understand) are protected by limiting the dissemination of such ideas to "Free Speech Areas," also known as liberal gulags.




We must wake up and recognize that free speech is a cornerstone of our civilization and Robert Spencer does an excellent job of discussing the importance of such speech. He provides many examples of how free speech has been threatened, everything from threatening emails to the producers of South Park to the murder of the Hebdo Charlie staff. And far from defending free speech, those who should be its greatest proponents (artists, writers, politicians, clergy) are almost desperate in their efforts to excuse those who attack (physically and verbally) those they disagree with but even imply on occasion that "they had it coming."




 If we lose the power to say "2+2=4" then we truly are lost.

Shooting Lincoln: Matthew Brady, Alexander Gardner and the Race to Photograph the Story of the Century (Four Stars)

When the Civil War broke out photography was barely past being a novelty. No longer the realm of experimenters, photo studios became the closest thing to a mass media product in the 19th century outside of newspapers. Anyone with a few dollars could go to a studio and get a few pictures made of themselves on carte de visites, small cards with the image printed on them. When war came photographers by the thousands came to get their pictures made before going to battle.




Matthew Brady and Alexander Gardner were the best of these and they had different philosophies about how to cover the war. At first Brady was determined to photograph a battle as it happened, but the cameras of the time required many seconds of exposure and were large and vulnerable devices. Brady's experiences at First Bull Run, whatever they were, taught him that photography would have to be done differently.




Brady sent out teams to several fronts and had them photograph scenes of camp and in the immediate aftermath of battle (being a northerner, this relied on the battlefield remaining in Union hands). Gardner, a former employee of Brady, also went to the battlefields (usually beating Brady and his teams) and looked for the unique and the macabre... and not shrinking from "rearranging" the battlefield on occasion to "better reflect" the nature of war. This was in contrast to Brady's pictures of the site of Lee's surrender at Appomattox and even a photo of Lee himself. Pistor characterizes Brady's approach as "artistic" and Gardner's as "journalistic."




Of course, it was Lincoln's assassination which saw photography really come into its own. Carte de visites of the conspirators were used in wanted posters and distributed to the military who hunted Booth and they were (briefly) used as a measure of loyalty among those interviewed by law enforcement. Gardner used photography to help document the conspirators for all time. Photos were used by artists to create propaganda concemning Booth as well as memorials to the slain president.
Overall, a very interesting study of the role of photography in the Civil War, although not in depth, and a study of two rival photographers. As would be expected, the book is illustrated by excellent photographs.

From MAD to Madness: Inside Pentagon Nuclear Planning (two stars)

This book begins by reminisces of Paul H. Johnstone, a man who began his career in the Department of Defense analyzing nuclear targeting based on an outdated and inappropriate model used by the United States Air Force during WWII. It ends with a painful essay by his daughter which refers to Gorbachev's "move towards conciliation with the West." It almost makes it sound as if the collapse of the USSR was Gorbachev's idea.








What this book looks at is not so much the Pentagon's nuclear war plans as it is the White House policy during the nuclear crises of Laos (!) and the Berlin War (?). Nothing is mentioned of the Cuba Missile Crisis or the 1983 near-war incident. The first half of the book has a lot of interesting information regarding the issues of selecting nuclear targets, the problems of fallout and the difficulty of defining "acceptable losses" to the U.S. in the event of a nuclear war. This I found useful and interesting. However, when the book went into Laos and Berlin (but not Cuba) it bogged down enormously and just seemed like undue padding. I question some of the "reminisces" in any case, since Johnstone mentions on page 139 how he visited a Nike-Zeus ABM site in the Washington DC area. This would have been patently impossible as NO Nike-Zeus missiles were ever operationally deployed.... money was allocated for such a deployment but later cancelled. From his description he was referring to Site W-64 in Maryland, which was equipped with Nike-Hercules, and antiaircraft system and NOT an ABM system. A little thing, but it makes me wonder how many other things he "remembered wrong."

I review almost exclusively history books (with rare exceptions). I will eagerly review any book having to do with antiaircraft or air defense. I am also interested in books on Africa, but again, mostly the history of the continent, especially in the 20th Century. Get in touch with me for more information. Most of my book reviews are also on Goodreads and Amazon.

Maid of Baikal (Five Stars)

This is an awesome tale set during the Russian Civil War, when various groups each fought seperately against the Bolsheviks attempting to set up their Godless communist state. A young woman, claiming to hear the voices of angels, meets with Kolchak, one of the so-called "White" leaders opposing the Reds, and at first gives him advice. Later, she leads Kolchak's Siberian army into combat... but palace intrigues begin to come into play.




This alternate history novel looks at what might have been, had those who opposed the Reds had better leadership and were united in their opposition. Fleming obviously knows this period of history and Russia's old pre-communist culture and it shows. He includes photos of some of the historical figures (including the notorious Sidney Reilly) and excellent maps. Even if you are not interested in Russian history it is a gripping tale.

The Chinese People's Liberation Army Since 1949 (Five Stars)

This book looks at the development of the People's Liberation Army (and its components) since the end of the civil war which left the communists as the undisputed masters of China. The book looks at the rank system of the PLA and why formal ranks were restored following the end of the Sino-Vietnamese War. It also speaks a little about the Persian Gulf War and the "wake-up call" that it provided to PLA leadership about the weaknesses of a mass conscription military facing a military with a technological edge. The PLA today is a smaller but more professional force. Its equipment is rapidly improving to make the PLA a force to be reckoned with. Although a small book, The Chinese People's Liberation Army provides a great starting point for more research on the topic or good background into the Chinese military. Illustrated with excellent photographs, maps, and original artwork.