Another enthralling Hastings must-read.
Veteran military historian Hastings’ first full-length narrative of war at sea measures up to his usual high standards.
The author reminds readers that summer 1942 marked the low point of the war for Britain. “The British people were weary,” writes Hastings, “especially of the defeats that seemed to be all that their bellicose prime minister could contrive.” Particularly humiliating were the surrenders of Singapore and Tobruk to inferior forces. Britain’s 8th Army remained on the defensive in Egypt, menaced by Rommel’s Afrika Korps, whose major difficulty was obtaining enough supplies from Europe. As Britain’s sole military possession between Gibraltar and Alexandria, Malta was vital, and its planes and submarines wreaked havoc on Axis merchant ships. Efforts to neutralize the island accelerated in 1942 when the Luftwaffe arrived to join Italy’s air force, dropping more bombs than it had on London during the Blitz. By summer, the island was devastated. British leaders debated whether or not Malta was worth defending, but Churchill had no doubts. As a result, on Aug. 10, 1942, 20,000 men and “the largest fleet the Royal Navy had committed to action since Jutland in 1916 entered the Mediterranean to fight an epic four-day battle.” Named Operation Pedestal, the mission aimed to protect 14 merchant vessels carrying desperately needed food and fuel. Vividly chronicling the sinking of the aircraft carrier Eagle, Hastings initiates 250 pages of gripping fireworks and insights that continue well past Aug. 15, when five battered merchantmen limped into Malta’s harbor. Real-world war is sloppier than the Hollywood version, even more so under the author’s gimlet eye. Heroism was in abundant supply but not universal. Through Hastings’ keen analysis we see how commanders on both sides showed as much bad judgment as intelligence. Belying Italy’s reputation for incompetence, its naval fleet inflicted more damage than Germany’s. Two months later, El Alamein and America’s North Africa landing took the pressure off Malta, again calling Pedestal’s sacrifices into question.
Another enthralling Hastings must-read.Pub Date: June 1, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-06-298015-1
Page Count: 448
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: March 16, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2021
Gibbins combines historical knowledge with a sense of adventure, making this book a highly enjoyable package.
A popular novelist turns his hand to historical writing, focusing on what shipwrecks can tell us.
There’s something inherently romantic about shipwrecks: the mystery, the drama of disaster, the prospect of lost treasure. Gibbins, who’s found acclaim as an author of historical fiction, has long been fascinated with them, and his expertise in both archaeology and diving provides a tone of solid authority to his latest book. The author has personally dived on more than half the wrecks discussed in the book; for the other cases, he draws on historical records and accounts. “Wrecks offer special access to history at all…levels,” he writes. “Unlike many archaeological sites, a wreck represents a single event in which most of the objects were in use at that time and can often be closely dated. What might seem hazy in other evidence can be sharply defined, pointing the way to fresh insights.” Gibbins covers a wide variety of cases, including wrecks dating from classical times; a ship torpedoed during World War II; a Viking longship; a ship of Arab origin that foundered in Indonesian waters in the ninth century; the Mary Rose, the flagship of the navy of Henry VIII; and an Arctic exploring vessel, the Terror (for more on that ship, read Paul Watson’s Ice Ghost). Underwater excavation often produces valuable artifacts, but Gibbins is equally interested in the material that reveals the society of the time. He does an excellent job of placing each wreck within a broader context, as well as examining the human elements of the story. The result is a book that will appeal to readers with an interest in maritime history and who would enjoy a different, and enlightening, perspective.
Gibbins combines historical knowledge with a sense of adventure, making this book a highly enjoyable package.Pub Date: April 2, 2024
ISBN: 9781250325372
Page Count: 304
Publisher: St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: Nov. 28, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
The Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist (1900–45) collected his work from WWII in two bestselling volumes, this second published in 1944, a year before Pyle was killed by a sniper’s bullet on Okinawa. In his fine introduction to this new edition, G. Kurt Piehler (History/Univ. of Tennessee at Knoxville) celebrates Pyle’s “dense, descriptive style” and his unusual feel for the quotidian GI experience—a personal and human side to war left out of reporting on generals and their strategies. Though Piehler’s reminder about wartime censorship seems beside the point, his biographical context—Pyle was escaping a troubled marriage—is valuable. Kirkus, at the time, noted the hoopla over Pyle (Pulitzer, hugely popular syndicated column, BOMC hype) and decided it was all worth it: “the book doesn’t let the reader down.” Pyle, of course, captures “the human qualities” of men in combat, but he also provides “an extraordinary sense of the scope of the European war fronts, the variety of services involved, the men and their officers.” Despite Piehler’s current argument that Pyle ignored much of the war (particularly the seamier stuff), Kirkus in 1944 marveled at how much he was able to cover. Back then, we thought, “here’s a book that needs no selling.” Nowadays, a firm push might be needed to renew interest in this classic of modern journalism.
Pub Date: April 26, 2001
ISBN: 0-8032-8768-2
Page Count: 513
Publisher: Univ. of Nebraska
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2001
© Copyright 2024 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
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