Book Reviews

Title: Jeremiah A. Denton, Jr.: Vietnam War Hero
Author: Anne Chancey Dalton
Genre: Historical Fiction
Reviewer: Jim Greenwald

ISBN (links go to the MWSA Amazon store): 1594210780

T-O-R-T-U-R-E. As the television camera focused on his face, Commander Jeremiah Denton, a Prisoner of War, blinked this word in Morse Code over and over. He sent a message to the world from North Vietnam, while answering a reporter's questions. After the war, Rear Admiral Denton received the Navy Cross-not for this message-but for his answer to the reporter's question: "What do you think about your government's actions?" Knowing he would be tortured more,Denton said, "...whatever the position of my government, I agree with it. I support it. I will support it as long as I live!" Years later, he continued this vow by becoming a congressman from Alabamain the United States Senate.

Title: Baptism of Fire
Author: Michael Winston
Genre: Historical Fiction
Reviewer: Bob Doerr

ISBN (links go to the MWSA Amazon store): 1475166249

This first volume in the Sgt. Smith World War II trilogy follows a squad of First Infantry Division soldiers to the rugged Tunisian desert of North Africa in their first experience of the war. As members of the “Big Red One,” the most famous Division in the American Army, they do battle with the most famous units in the German Army: Rommel’s Africa Corps, as well as the 10th and 21st Panzer Divisions. This is a vivid and unvarnished odyssey into the foxholes of World War II, a gritty look at a war we should never forget, and dedicated to all those brave men and women who through their courage and sacrifice fought to free the world from a cloud of evil.

Title: Red Sky at Morning
Author: Steve Wilson
Genre: Thriller/Mystery
Reviewer: Elizabeth Beard

ISBN (links go to the MWSA Amazon store): 1618080350

When Marine Lieutenant Michael Neill is ordered to the former Soviet Union, his assignment is to verify nuclear disarmament. But before his mission begins, an American reconnaissance plane is attacked by a Russian fighter, and a Navy pilot is killed. After the incident, Neill’s mission changes.

Willis Avery, the President’s National Security Advisor, wants Lieutenant Neill to investigate Russian stealth technology, in addition to his original assignment. Photographic evidence—and the lack of radar images of the attacking aircraft—lead the American intelligence community to conclude that something new has been developed in the skies over Russia.

Avery believes that Neill’s friendship with a high-ranking officer in the Ukrainian Air Force is the key to establishing Red Sky at Morning—the existence of new aviation technology that could upset the balance of power between East and West. However, ultra-nationalist forces are at work. After arriving in Eastern Europe, Neill quickly uncovers a conspiracy of terrorism secretly instigated by the Kremlin. Government leaders in Moscow will stop at nothing to rebuild the Soviet Union as they try to force the breakaway republics back into the fold.

Neill discovers that the terrorism has extended to the weapons facility he is charged with inspecting. Communist agents have gone far beyond their original orders, and it’s a race against time as the Marine—with the help of a beautiful Ukrainian journalist—tries to stop them—and come up with a plan to bring down the corrupt govenment officials in Moscow.

Title: Tainted Dawn: The Great War
Author: B.N. Peacock
Genre: Historical Fiction
Reviewer: Edward Kelly

ISBN (links go to the MWSA Amazon store): 1611792126

August 1789. The Rights of Man. Liberty. Equality. Idealism. Patriotism. A new age dawns. And yet, old hostilities persist: England and Spain are on the brink of war. France, allied by treaty with Spain, readies her warships.

Three youths - the son of an English carpenter, the son of a naval captain, and the son of a French court tailor - meet in London, a chance encounter that entwines their lives ever after. The English boys find themselves on the same frigate bound for the Caribbean.

The Frenchman sails to Trinidad, where he meets an even more zealous Spanish revolutionary. As diplomats in Europe race to avoid conflict, war threatens to explode in the Caribbean, with the three youths pitted against each other. Will the dawn of the boys' young manhood remain bright with hope? Or will it become tainted with their countrymen's spilled blood? "...compelling characters and an exciting plot... Much like the Hornblower series

Title: Stories of Faith and Courage from the Vietnam War
Author: Larkin Spivey
Genre: Spiritual/Religious
Reviewer: Fran McGraw

IISBN (links go to the MWSA Amazon store): 0899570194

In a new collection of true stories from the Vietnam War, Larkin Spivey reveals the violence and danger faced by a generation of young Americans that answered their Nation's call and rose to the challenge.

Many stories show the power of faith under the stress of combat and separation from loved ones, while others show the complex spiritual journey of men forced to confront the dark side of human nature for the first time.
Ultimately, the power of God to redeem every human life and event shines forth in this amazing collection.