Beach Haven

Bibliography
Rohde, Joy. 2013. Armed with Expertise: The Militarization of American Social Research During the Cold War. Ithaca & London: Cornell University Press.
 
In this work, Joy Rohde begins discussing a relatively new tool in the military arsenal called the Human Terrain System (HTS). Essentially, HTS includes social scientists who are familiar with local social factors in war zones who advise in-field troops and commanders. Rohde begins discussing it’s use in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. Another example of HTS researchers Rohde discusses are those “behind the front lines in the War on Terror” (Rohde 2013, 1). She notes how one of the goals of HTS participants is to encourage soldiers to “see the world through the eyes of the people affected” so perhaps they could somewhat “demilitarize the military” (Ibid.). As it turns out, many critics of HTS argue the opposite. This approach, some social scientists point out, is militarizing the researchers instead.

The military funded much of this research through the Special Operations Research Office (SORO) created by the Office of the Chief of Psychological Warfare. After setting up this tension and noting some of the major participants, Rohde goes on to offer a historical view of the roots of psychological warfare research dating back to the 1950s and 1960s during the height of the Cold War between the United States and Western allies in conflict with the Soviet Union and it’s sphere of influence.

Among other conclusions, Joy Rohde asserts that “much of the critical focus on contracting for the post-9/11 environment focuses on the dangers of privatization, not on those of militarization” (Rohde 2013, 155). Perhaps the same could be said about the military itself. Rohde notes that if it’s true that Americans are “devoted to their image of the nation as a global superpower” (Rohde 2013, 156), then militarization of social research will “last as long as Americans continue to measure their national greatness by their global might” (Ibid.).
​

​Bibliography
O'Brian, Patrick. 1973. H.M.S. Surprise. New York & London: W.W. Norton & Company.

Review by Michael Beach 

This book is the third in the series written by Patrick O’Brian centered on the British naval officer Jack Aubrey and his friend and ship’s doctor, Stephen Maturin. The series is set during the Napoleonic Wars when British and French warships often battled. My first introduction to this series was through the moving Master and Commander starring Russell Crowe. A work friend of mine gifted me the first two novels and I decided to continue the series.

As one might expect, this story is a continuation from the other two which I have already written reviews on here https://bhaven.org/reviews/master-commander
and here https://bhaven.org/reviews/post-captain.

This point of the longer story begins with Aubrey temporarily in command of HMS Lively. He is assigned to escort duty. The crew is less practiced than he would have hoped, but he manages to use them to sneak ashore to a Spanish fort on the island of Minorca and rescue Stephen who is imprisoned there. They go on to engage French ships with victorious effect. The permanent commander returns, and Aubrey’s career is left adrift.

The middle of the book returns focus to his romance with Sophie Williams to whom he proposes marriage. She accepts, but her widowed mother is not supportive since he has a fair amount of debt and an uncertain naval future. Jack has his own internal conflicts on this problem and is always finding ways to dodge creditors. Jack’s accomplice Stephen has his own love entanglement in an on-again off-again affair with a widow Diana Villiers who is also friends with Sophie.

Eventually the book puts Jack back in charge of a ship HMS Surprise. It turns out to be the ship he had served on many years before as a young midshipman. He fixes it up and sails for India on assignment. There are a number of close calls with ocean storms, doldrums, sickness, and times of low provisions for the crew. The result is a battered ship and crew when they get to India. Jack not only fixes the ship and provisions it, but in the process makes many improvements to the hull and masts. While in India, Stephen meets up with his love interest, Diana Villiers. They have some intrigue and adventures in several parts of India. They agree to meet in Madeira on their way home after the ship’s tour there. Diana also agrees to encourage Sophie to join Jack there. Before heading home to England, there is a substantial battle between the Surprise along with some less experienced warships manned by sailors from India. They are escorting a large convoy of merchant ships and come under attack by a number of French navy ships. A battle ensues and the British are victorious. Jack is the main hero and as a result receives a sizeable reward, enough to pay off his creditors and marry Sophie.

After another batch of repairs to the Surprise resulting from the battle, they sail home stopping at Madeira as planned. Unfortunately for Stephen, his relationship with Diana is off-again. She left word that she has married a wealthy merchant and they have gone to America. Jack initially has no word from Sophie, but at last they come together and resume their romance. Sophie is sure her mother will accept Jack after his turn of fortune.

As with the other O’Brian books, the writing is very engaging and he clearly knows his nautical and naval language. The details can be a bit hard to follow during the heated battles, even for someone like me with some experience sailing, but the reader is not lost. This book had less emphasis on the romance than the second book had and more on battles and expeditions into India jungles. From that perspective the balance was better from my point of view. 

Bibliography
​Stark, Peter. 2018. Young Washington: How Wilderness and War Forged America's Founding Father. New York: Harper Collins Publishers.

Review by Michael Beach

Like so many who interest themselves in the Revolutionary War period of United States history, I find biographies on the ‘founding fathers’ fascinating. Washington may be considered the quintessential example. In this work, Peter Stark takes the reader through George Washington’s immediate ancestry and his own childhood. The work then transitions through his colonial experiences, his love interests, and his decision to embark on a military career.

In his early military experiences, Stark makes an argument for Washington’s role in reigniting war between England and France. In what is called either The Seven Years War or The French and Indian War, Washington does learn some harsh lessons and is directly involved in a number of battles. Aside from his hardening as a wartime leader, Washington is keenly interested in becoming an officer in the regular British army. Time and again he is snubbed, along with all American militia. When the war ended, he resigned in frustration and begins his career as a plantation owner. This snubbing comes back to haunt the British years later when the future General Washington directly confronts some of his previous peers and superiors as part of the revolution. This particular work does not take us beyond his resignation and settling into Mount Vernon.

Stark shares excerpts of correspondences to, from, and about Washington that give insight into his early mistakes and how he begins to mature. Stark also shares his romantic interest in a married member of the Fairfax family. Eventually he realizes the pointlessness of the pursuit and his relationship with Martha comes into play. Peter Stark makes it clear that it is not so clear about George’s romantic inclinations toward Martha. His motivation may have been as much financial and cultural as romantic. In either case, the two become an early ‘power couple’.

Peter Stark writes this history in an engaging format that keeps the story moving along. I personally take all histories with a grain of salt, but Stark includes a significant number of contemporary sources, including Washington’s own writings. The content rings true and is probably as close to reality as is possible. 
​

Bibliography
Ramsdell, Mike. 2006. A Train to Potevka: An American Spy in Russia. Layton: Zhivago Press.

Review by Michael Beach
​
This book is an autobiographical sketch of some experiences of a CIA operative working in Russia in the waning years of the Soviet Union. Mike Ramsdell speaks of his early training days in the agency and how his unit was betrayed by another trainee with whom Ramsdell had a friendship. He tells of his bringing up in northern Utah, his marriage and divorce brought on in part by how much he was away on assignments.

The main story of the book is how his unit in Russia was attempting to turn an official into an asset for the CIA. It goes wrong and his unit is told to bug out. That is, the others in his unit are sent to the relative safety of Moscow. Ramsdell is left alone to finish sanitizing the various locations the group of American spies were using. He is eventually ordered to take a train to a safe house in the far away village of Potevka. Before he can make his get away, Ramsdell is attacked by local thugs. He escapes the assassination attempt, but barely. He is beaten and seriously injured. In this rough condition he gets on the train in a lot of pain. It’s the slow train that stops often with the lowest class ticket. He ruminates about his life and what seems to him like abandonment by the agency. As he slept, another passenger steels what little food he had, leaving him to travel for days hungry and bloodied.

Eventually he arrives only to find the safe house empty and with no food. Eventually villagers help him, but not at first. He speaks of how the local people have little for themselves because of the bad policies of the Soviet government. Several times he is stalked by wolves that at one point keep him from walking from the house to the outhouse to relieve himself. After a long stay in the bitter cold and deprivation that included Christmas, he eventually makes his way to rescue and a return to the United States.

Throughout the ordeal, Ramsdell was sustained by his memory of his relationship with his son and a coworker who later becomes his girlfriend and future wife. He wrote to them and imagined future times together. He also considered his own perspective about God and his faith. The humbling experiences at first caused him to question, but then he was drawn closer to God and found his faith growing.

The story is an interesting mix of spy thriller, introspection, and social commentary with a religious connection. Since I lived part of my life in northern Utah, I was familiar with the places he describes. I also made two work-related trips to far eastern Siberia, but after the fall of the Soviet Union. I can see his perspective offering praise and sympathy to the Russian people while questioning their government as well as our own.
​

​Bibliography
Reeman, Douglas. 1986. The Iron Pirate. New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons.

Review by Michael Beach
 
This story is set in the waning years of WWII. It centers on the German heavy cruiser called Prinz Luitpold. As some of the German fleet were bottled up in the Baltic waters around Scandinavia, the ship receives orders to break away and sail into the north Atlantic to act alone sinking as many support ships of the allies as possible. They are to specifically avoid military ships that might engage them and only approach ships that have little or no defense. They rightfully assume most of the British and American combatants would be busily engaged guarding the invasion of Europe that began in France. They wreak havoc as hoped. As word gets out of a German rogue, some of the British fleet had remained in South Africa during the invasion of Europe. The admiralty of that part of the fleet give chase, eventually sinking her.

The characters on the German ship are twisted into several love triangles. Captain Dieter Hechler was embarrassed by his wife’s constant cheating. She comes aboard before the ship’s departure from the Baltic and attempts to seduce her husband. He refuses her. He rightfully suspects she is pregnant and trying to cover her state by claiming the child to be his. A former classmate of Captain Hechler who is now Admiral Leitner, comes aboard with a public relations film crew and a famous woman aviator to create hope for the German people who are beginning to suffer from losses in battle and bombings in the homeland. He also brought with him some boxes that are quickly locked away, their contents not even disclosed to Captain Hechler. They turn out to be valuables stolen from Jews and political prisoners destined for execution. These poor souls included the wife of the ship’s medical officer, Doctor Kroll. Over time the captain and women pilot fall in love and have an affair. As the ship engages in its final battle, Kroll kills Leitner because of his hiding information surrounding the death of the doctor’s wife. Several crew members abscond with the admiral’s boxes of jewels and money. Many survive and later find themselves in prisoner camps, eventually returning to Germany.

There are other story lines and romantic parings. For me, the romantic angles were not appealing. Intimate interludes are at times described in a rated-R level in my estimation. Also, in my estimation, these portions of the book add little to the story and are unnecessary. They could have been toned down and still help the reader to understand how the relationships influence events and outcomes. The battle scenes and internal tensions that result are well written and realistic.  One other distraction for me is how the author tends to shift suddenly from on scene to another. Often the discussions in distant locations and with different characters seem almost intertwined. At times it can be difficult to follow the transitions, or rather non-transitions. 
​

References
​Schrank, Delphine. 2015. The Rebel of Rangoon: A Tale of Defiance and Deliverance in Burma. New York: Nation Books.

Review by Michael Beach

The pro-democracy struggles in Burma lasted decades. This book looks closely at a handful of specific people who participated during the 1980s through the first decade of the 2000s. Their names are Nway, Nigel, Grandpa, and Aung San Suu Kyi. The last of these was the face of the movement who had popular support in several national level elections. Aung was very visible and attracted international news attention. The others were unknown to the world, or even the larger movement seeking to topple the autocratic powers that led to many of the problems that are common to that style of government. Delphine Schrank shares specific stories of four specific revolutionaries and how each of their experiences were at time parallel, and other times were entwined. Each had their personal losses caused by violence in the process. Several suffered through prison time as political prisoners.

While sharing their stories, the author is able to move their individual stories along while sharing the larger narrative. Major events are depicted from the perspective of historical fact as documented in news stories and official documents. The individuals followed also have their own narrow experience during each of those major events. For example, there was a migration of sorts of many of the revolutionaries temporarily left Rangoon, or the Insein Prison system to gather just over the river in Dala. “In Dala, the only structures built to last, aside from an orphanage and a school, were the pagodas” (Schrank 2015, 131). The pagodas Schrank describes as tourist traps designed to give visitors a place to leave Rangoon during the day, spend some money for the ambiance, then retreat back across the river to their respective hotels. For the revolutionaries, Schrank says, Dala became a ‘city of exiles’ that evolved into a ‘city of wraiths’.
​
Each of the characters (real people, not created by the author) shared specific tactics used for communication, and their shifting support of each other or the larger movement. At times several were accused of using their position for personal benefit, and the author shows that this may be true to some degree, yet they also participated with personal sacrifice. The book is a look at real humans who act like real humans in a large political struggle with individual experience. 

Bibliography
​Weintraub, S. (2014). A Christmas Far from Home: An Epic Tale of Courage and Survival During the Korean War. Boston: Da Capo Press.
 
Review by Michael Beach

The Korean War was my father’s war. To be honest, it's a war I personally know little about. To be technical, the political powers of the west didn’t want to call it a war to avoid what inevitably happened, involvement by China. Instead, they called it a ‘police action’ that involved countries that signed on as United Nations forces. In this book, Stanley Weintraub looks at the beginning engagements, the rout of American forces from the Chosin reservoir, and the military leadership decisions that seemed to bungle the whole thing.

It was late fall in Korea and the weather was turning cold. General Douglas MacArthur (yes, the one from WWII) was in charge of all the forces in Asia. He conducted Korean operations from a comfortable hotel suite and offices in Tokyo. At first, spirits were high in his offices, and initially with troops on the ground as well. Everyone heard that the whole thing will be over by Christmas. The armies of North Korea seemed to be a pushover. There was no reason to think the Chinese would involve themselves. Unfortunately, there was plenty of intelligence to the opposite. The intelligence was ignored. The result was that American troops pushed north toward the Yalu River with little resistance, then found themselves nearly encircled by Chinese regulars and plummeting temperatures.

Weintraub’s work is a combination of historical facts about what happened, and editorial perspective on why things went the way they did. His descriptions of the war that wasn’t a war, the first war America didn’t win, are well written. The reader can see the whole thing play out both from the perspective of generals who rarely joined the ground troops, to the forces themselves dodging death as they made their way back from the Yalu to the relative safety south. The reader gets both the grit of up-close warfare, and the confusion and assumptions at upper levels that reflected an 'alternate reality’ as events unfolded.

Bibliography
​O'Brian, P. (1972). Post Captain. New York & London: W.W. Norton & Company.

Review by Michael Beach
​
This is the second in a series of stories that depict the military career of a fictitious sailing captain in the British navy during the Napoleonic Wars. Captain Jack Aubrey, his friend and ship surgeon Stephen Maturin were made famous in the movie adaptation of a later volume. That movie Master and Commander starred Russell Crowe as Aubrey and Paul Bettany as Maturin.

As a following work to the first in the series, I was somewhat disappointed. The fist was called Master and Commander, but was not the book the movie was set on. The first focused mostly on the military action with battles and courts martial in the aftermath. There was some romance, but it was tangential. Post Captain is pretty much the opposite. The beginning of the book tells of the romantic exploits that continue well through the first half of the book. Aubrey is also plagued by creditors. He is forced to use all sorts of intrigue to avoid capture by them.

Eventually, he is given an usual ship to lead. It was captured by the British navy, but based on its construction its handling is difficult. The ship is not really suited to military action. At the same time, the crew are nothing like those of his first ship, the Sophie. At issue are the senior enlisted men and junior officers who are not the best at leading. In particular, the main mate of the ship has a harsh style and morale and performance run low. Eventually, Aubrey takes matters into his own hands by purposefully engaging his ship separate from his main orders. The result is the capture of several enemy vessels, but the loss of his own. In the aftermath, Aubrey is found to not be responsible for the loss.

The next section of the book puts the main characters back in the realm of romance and financial intrigue. Thankfully, this part of the story doesn’t take up so much space because Aubrey is tagged to become the temporary captain of HMS Lively. The actual captain is called to be a member of Parliament so Aubrey gets custodianship. Most of the assignments he has on Lively are as an escort for merchant shipping. He has a few engagements with enemy vessels, but things finally go well when they encounter some Spanish ships taking gold to Cadiz. In the engagement one Spanish ship is lost to an explosion. The other two are captured along with their cargo.

During this last engagement, Aubrey’s love interest is aboard as Maturin previously convinced his friend to transport her and some of her friends to a city in the south. Aubrey and his girlfriend, Sophie, agree they cannot marry while he is still poor, and that they will not marry anyone else.

Bibliography
​Churchill, Winston S. 1948. The Second World War: The Gathering Storm. Cambridge: Houghton Mifflin Company.
 
This is one volume in a series written by the former British Prime Minister. I only have this particular book and not the entire series. This is a personal memoir, and as such depicts events either within his direct experience as he recalls them, or related events as he came to understand them through others. Churchill directly shares in appendices copies of documents that he refers to such as letters, official transcripts, or published government forms. Comparing his earlier works on his experiences during WWI, in this case he claims more authoritative views. “I am perhaps the only man who has passed through both the two supreme cataclysms of recorded history in high Cabinet office. Whereas, however, in the First World War I filled responsible but subordinate posts, I was for more than five years in the second struggle with Germany the Head of His Majesty’s Government. I write, therefore, from a different standpoint and with more authority than was possible in my earlier books” (Churchill 1948, iii).

The period covered begins in the immediate aftermath of WWI in which Churchill makes the argument that the seeds of WWII were sown between 1919 and 1929 by the victors of the first war by how they set treaties and requirements heaped on the German government. He shares some of the warning signs missed as political unrest in Germany grew, and complacency in both the UK and France did also. Often Churchill as a member of the Cabinet or Parliament was ignored or countered when he would share concerns coming to him through intelligence reports or other means. Given the assumed military size differences between the French and German armies, any aggression was thought to be easily quelled. Yet, as Hitler took power, a warning in itself, he was also building military equipment and growing the ranks of the army and navy. All of this was in violation of the imposed treaties, and many in allied authority simply did not believe it was really happening until it was too late.

For a casual history consumer like me, there was much I didn’t know about how events flowed. In particular I found the section on Hitler’s excuses for moving against Austria particularly foreboding. One can take the rhetoric of Hitler about ethnically German people in Austria, or the need to defend Germany against western or Russian aggression and shift the time and circumstance to today. Recent justification by Vladimir Putin as concerning the Ukraine are pretty much word for word the arguments used by Hitler in his eventual advancements in Austria, then eastern Europe. Serendipitously, I happen to be going through this portion of the book as Russia’s aggression in the Ukraine was beginning, and the similarities were uncanny.

This is an insightful historical work by someone who had a great deal to do with how things went. One can question any sort of memoire for accuracy, or for subjectivity, but then again, the same can be said no matter the historical author even when the work is not autobiographical.
​

Bibliography
Monsarrat, Nicholas. 1951. The Cruel Sea. Harmondsworth (England): Penguin Books Ltd.
 
The reader is treated to a fictional depiction of an English corvette during World War II. It begins with the ship still in the yard with it’s first captain, Lieutenant-Commander George Ericson, arriving. Monsarrat introduces the crew as members come and go. The interactions, personal circumstances and levels of sea-going experience all add to the drama as they slowly meld into a successful ship’s company. The corvette was a sort of small escort vessel designed to protect merchant convoys from German U-boats. They were hastily constructed with no air-conditioning and limited heating. Crew accommodations were spartan and armament limited.

The name of the specific ship from the story was the HMS Compass Rose. Along the way, the crew and ship engage a number of U-boats and sink several. They also conduct a number of rescue operations where the Germans are successful in sinking ships leaving many sailors in the water. All the action takes place in the Atlantic theater. In the end, Compass Rose is lost to a German torpedo. Not all the crew survive, and some survivors suffer what today would be called PTSD.

​The book is a good mix between personal conflict, team building, high-stakes warfare, and character retrospection. There was at least one full-length motion picture based on the book.