Charles Ashbacher Reviews

  Review of Liberation: Marines in the Recapture of Guam , by Cyril J. O’Brien Four out of five stars Concise and effective summary of a brutal battle   In July 1944 it was clear to both sides of the Pacific conflict that the Allies were on the ascendency and that Japanese power was rapidly declining. Most of the best Japanese pilots and support crews had already been killed in action and the cream of their Navy surface ships had been damaged or destroyed. The US submarine service was decimating the Japanese merchant marine, so fewer supplies were making it to the Japanese home islands.   The battles for the islands in the Pacific now had one purpose on the Japanese side. Their forces were to fight to the death, taking as many American lives as possible. Towards this end, the Japanese forces were heavily dug in so that they could survive the massive naval and aerial bombardments. When it came time for the American invasion of Guam, the Japanese defenders knew th...

  Review of Strange Stories of Alaska and the Yukon , by Ed Ferrell, ISBN 0945397518 Four out of five stars Somewhat unique stories, yet very familiar   The stories in this collection have as their location Alaska and the Yukon and are dated back to the early days of Russian and American exploration. The Yukon gold rush of 1896-1899, where somewhere around 100,000 prospectors made the journey to the gold fields led to many of the stories. Yet, most of the stories in this collection are similar to stories from other areas.   Quite naturally, some of the stories are about lost gold mines. Although the weather conditions are much harsher than in the American Southwest, the general form of the lost gold mine stories closely match the tales of lost gold mines in the American Southwest. A lone or small team of prospectors find a gold mine, struggle out with high grade ore and then for whatever reason, cannot find or direct the way back to the find.   Most of th...

  Review of Big Sexy: Bartolo Colon in His Own Words, with Michael Stahl ISBN 9781419740374 Four out of five stars An autobiography of a popular player Bartolo Colon pitched in the major leagues for 21 years and won more games than any other Latin American player. Which surprised me, my first guess would have been Juan Marichal. Like so many other Latin players, he had fairly humble beginnings in the Dominican Republic. He grew up working on his father’s farm, doing the kind of physical labor that most people do on farms.     Despite his success on the mound, Colon played for 11 teams, winning the Cy Young award as the best pitcher in the American League in 2005. He was very much a product of his youth in the Dominican Republic and was considered “colorful.”   This is a first person account of his life, told in a series of snippets and not in chronological order. There are many quotes from the people that he interacted with during his major league career...

  Review of Roosevelt & World War II , by Robert A. Divine Four out of five stars A brief synopsis of a great president   Given that when he first took the oath of office the United States and the world was in the depths of the greatest economic crisis of all time and that Franklin Roosevelt let the Allies to victory in World War II, it is impossible to explain his achievements in a mere 98 pages. Volumes have been written about the actions of Franklin Roosevelt as the leader of the United States and its’ great industrial might. The best that can be done in a short book is to provide a reasonably accurate summary. Which is what is done here.   As the war clouds gathered in Europe and Asia, the United States was extremely isolationist, there were few people that could be considered internationalists. Therefore, Roosevelt was extremely limited in what he could do in support of the nations that were at war with Germany and Japan. That is made clear in this shor...

  Review of The Blind Grind, Success: It’s Not Hard Work , by Yuen Yung, ISBN 9781684017287 Five out of five stars Another way to state a phrase for success   One of the most stated phrases designed to steer a person towards success is, “Work smarter not harder.” The phrase “blind grind” in the title refers to the person that works extremely hard at a job, a position where even if they put in long hours and do an excellent job, it will not lead to the success that they want.   Yung also states another widely used adage, “You must be prepared to recognize opportunities when they appear.” Those opportunities could be due to specific actions by you, people that know you, or could just be the consequence of luck. Acknowledging that luck is a part of life is a strong point of the book, whether that luck is the circumstances of birth or due to the misfortune of others or being picked out of a set of equally qualified people, it is a natural part of life.   Ther...

  Review of Savages , DVD version Four out of five stars Savages is the proper term for drug lords   California marijuana entrepreneurs Ben and Chon live a unique lifestyle. They grow some of the best marijuana in the world and are in a permanent threesome with a woman named O. They share her equally and their business is doing very well. They also know some of the best computer hackers in the world that assist them in managing their revenue. Chon is also a veteran of the US military, and he has some best friends that are ex special forces with deadly sniper skills.   Their idyllic world is shattered when Elena, the drug lord of Baja decides to take over their business. Despite all of the attempts of Ben and Chon to work out a deal, and even flee the country, Elena makes the decision to kidnap O in an attempt to force them to do her bidding.   However, even though at first it appears that Elena has the upper hand, Ben and Cho fight back, matching violence...

  Review of War Fish , by George Grider as told to Lydel Sims Five out of five stars Firsthand account of the undersea war   There seems little doubt that the submarine service produces the highest return for the resources expended. In both World Wars in Europe, the German U-boats came very close to winning the war for Germany, as they came close to starving out the British. In the Pacific theater, the amount of damage done to Japan by US submarines was significant. Over 1,300 merchant and 200 warships were sunk by submarines. Overall, the Japanese Imperial Navy lost 334 warships and 2000 merchant ships in World War II. In both case, roughly two-thirds of the ships sunk were by submarine.   This of course the effectiveness of the submarines is not without cost. Approximately 22% of the US Navy men in the submarines were lost at sea. For the German submariners in World War II, 75% did not survive the war. These were the highest death rates of all the services. Co...

Review of The Shadow: Two Complete Novels, The Golden Vulture plus Crime Insured , by Lester Dent and Walter B. Gibson respectively. ISBN 9781932806489 Four out of five stars A look back at the early crimefighting heroes   Originally published in the late 1930s, these two stories that feature the crime fighting hero known as “The Shadow” illustrate the early years of the heroes. People familiar with the original Doc Savage will quickly recognize the Dent style in “The Golden Vulture.” He was also the author of many of the Doc Savage stories of the 1930s.   Although the superhero character goes all the way back to Heracles of Greek mythology, the first modern superhero is considered to be the Phantom, created by Lee Falk in 1936. However, like the Shadow and Doc Savage, he also did not have superpowers like the later heroes. Superman, first appearing in 1938, was the first true superhero in that he had superpowers, although initially he was not as powerful as he was t...

  Review of Courage Has No Color: The True Story of the Triple Nickles, by Tanya Lee Stone, ISBN 9780545622943 Five out of five stars Another battle against segregation   In World War II, the United States military was still generally segregated. Even in the units where blacks served alongside whites, the blacks were largely relegated to service positions. Despite the outstanding performance of black units during the American Civil War, the common misconception was that blacks were intellectually inferior and unreliable in combat.   Among ground troops, the elite forces are the paratroop units. Well trained to jump from planes and fight in small, concentrated units until major forces arrive, they suffered casualties in training and the expectation was that they would have a higher casualty rate in combat.   This book is a history of the first black unit of paratroopers, the 555 th , generally known as the triple nickles. It is a story of triumph over dee...