Book Reviews

Title: Righteous Rescue: Heroism that Healed a Hurting Nation
Author: John L. Rothdiener
Genre: Fiction, Historical
Reviewer: Don Arndt

ISBN (links go to the MWSA Amazon store): 1449703852

The year is 2010 and deep in the jungle of Vietnam are six POWs left over from the Vietnam War. They resemble the walking dead, each awaiting his final demise. They no longer had the strength to attempt an escape. After forty years is there still hope in a rescue? Has the American people and the government forgotten them? What plan does the Vietnamese Guard have for these six men? Why has General Yo kept them alive for so long and why were they never released? What has happened to their loved ones at home and do they still wait for them or has all hope of their return died out? And what about their faith in God. Had their unanswered prayers meant that even God has abandoned them?

Righteous Rescue is a gripping account of sacrifice and patriotism, responsibility and conviction. Rothdiener skillfully captures the memories of an unpopular war, and the hope of bringing together a nation after forty years.

Title: Pilots and Normal People: Short stories from a different attitude
Author: Walt Shiel
Genre: Fiction, Collection
Reviewer: Mary Sullivan

ISBN (links go to the MWSA Amazon store): 097465535X

Is it really possible to forget a prejudice ingrained during war? Does death really close the door to life? Can a grounded pilot find another way to return to the sky? Are physical laws the same throughout the universe? Is aviation mostly intellect or mostly emotion? Are criminals just as smart as the law-abiding? Can one man fight back against society's increasing crudeness? Do space explorers really need a spaceship? These and many other intriguing questions are explored in this eclectic collection of short fiction by Walt Shiel, which includes the award-winning "Remember."

Title: The Mailman Went UA: A Vietnam Memoir
Author: David W. Mulldune
Genre: Non-Fiction, Memoir
Reviewer: Bob Flournoy

ISBN (links go to the MWSA Amazon store): 0557025516

Memoir by a Marine who served in Vietnam with the 27th and 7th Marines from May 1968 through June 1969. His book is not so much about the Vietnam War but about the experiences, horror, and tragedy of war, based on his experience, so that others will see the futility of it, unless there is absolutely no other way. He hopes that what he has written will be the next best thing to actually being there, and that it will give a taste of what it is like to go through it, and his hope that it will change the way people look at war as a viable solution. He wants people to see it from the less privileged viewpoint and get a taste of real war. The title, The Mailman Went UA, came from their little song and dance routine that they performed when they didn't receive any mail. Strong language, racial and sexual references. 18 photos, glossary.

Title: Last Roll Call (One of the last Memoirs of WWII. The adventure of a B-17 Tailgunner, volume 1)
Author: Kenneth Tucker & Wanda T. Goodwin
Genre: Non-Fiction, Memoir
Reviewer: Don Farinacci

ISBN (links go to the MWSA Amazon store): 0975474952

Synopsis of the book, submitted by the author.

Title: Heaven in the Midst of Hell: A Quaker Chaplain's View of the War in Iraq
Author: Sheri Snively
Genre: Non-Fiction, Inspirational
Reviewer: Pat McGrath Avery

ISBN (links go to the MWSA Amazon store): 0981992609

War exposes the divide between who we think we are and how we behave in extreme situations. Commander Snively has crafted a vivid, unsettling, and ultimately hopeful personal account of the effects of the Iraq war on soldiers and civilians alike who find themselves astride that dilemma.

From her unique perspective as a Navy Quaker chaplain serving with Marines working amid the boredom, tension, and seemingly meaningless carnage at a trauma hospital and morgue between Ramadi and Fallujah, Commander Snively negotiates a compassionate path to healing marked not by formulaic answers, but by an open and questioning spirit.

Lavishly adorned with the author's own evocative photographs, Heaven in the Midst of Hell is a compelling and unforgettable journey into the human soul