Charles Ashbacher Reviews

  Review of U-Boat War , by Lothar-Gunther Buchheim, ISBN 0517606712 Five out of five stars The inner workings of the U-boat and the men in them   Buchheim is probably unique in his credentials for reporting on what went on inside the German U-boats or submarines in the Second World War. Given a camera, he was ordered to join a submarine crew and produce documentation that could be used for propaganda purposes.   One fact is critical for understanding the material in this book. No branch of the German military had a higher death rate that the submarine forces. The casualty rate was 75%, most of which were fatalities. The men that crewed the boats were all volunteers, they went to sea knowing that it was likely they would never return.   A voyage generally lasted two months, during which the men never bathed and some of the crew never viewed anything outside their boat. They worked in very cramped conditions, and sometimes spent days where they were in ten...

  Review of Queen Victoria’s Grandsons (1859-1918), by Christina Croft, ISBN 9781505885811 Five out of five stars The most historically significant family tree   In the latter part of the nineteenth and first part of the twentieth, royalty was generally forbidden from marrying anyone but royalty. Some potential marriages between royals were frowned upon because one of the parties was considered too low a class of royalty for the other. Queen Victoria had nine children, all of which survived to adulthood. These children produced 42 grandchildren, 20 of which were male. Given their parentage, the (grand)children were considered prime stock for marriages into other royal families. Therefore, the Queen Victoria family tree was extensive and extended into the royal courts throughout Europe. Most notably for the first decades of the 20 th century, many of the autocrats were cousins or cousins in law. Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany was a grandchild, granddaughter Alix marri...

  Review of Dictators in Cartoons: Unmasking Monsters and Mocking Tyrants , edited by Tony Husband, ISBN 9781784046149 Five out of five stars The best propaganda is always visual   There are many ways to express the belittlement of political opponents, but the best by far is the political cartoon. The best has the power to alter the very power structure of the political landscape and motivate a population to engage in warfare against their current enemies. The easiest targets are the pompous and arrogant, which most dictators are.   This book contains some of the best political cartoons ever produced, as the title states, the subject matter is the most prominent dictators down through history. It is interesting that the first true cartoon in this book features Vlad the Impaler. The primary focus is Hitler, Mussolini, Stalin and to a lesser extent Franco and Mao Zedong.   Lesser lights of the modern world such as Idi Amin, General Pinochet, Saddam Hussein an...

  Review of The Star Beast , by Robert A. Heinlein Five out of five stars Vintage Heinlein story about alien life   John Thomas Stuart the ninth is for lack of a better term the current “owner” of Lummox, an alien life form smuggled to Earth by galactic explorer John Thomas Stuart the first. The size of a puppy when brought to Earth, Lummox is now the size an elephant. Furthermore, Lummox has a large appetite and seems capable of eating everything from steel to poison with no adverse effects.   Despite its imposing size, Lummox is a very gentle creature with a soft disposition and is very fond of John Thomas Stuart. However, Lummox is very much a mischievous pet and there are movements that want Lummox killed. This is not easy, as bullets are like marshmallows to Lummox’s tough exterior.   A major interstellar incident is created over Lummox and it is up to the more practical humans as well as a knowledgeable ambassador to somehow manage the situation whe...

  Review of Night Kills , by Ed Gorman, ISBN 0345345924 Four out of five stars Unusual premise that mostly works   Frank Brolan works as an adman in the brutal and often cutthroat advertising/marketing business. He is attending a party with his fellow people in the business when he has an unusual encounter with a woman he does not know. The business will quickly become literally cutthroat when the woman appears dismembered in his basement freezer. It turns out that the woman is a hooker, albeit an unusual one.   Fearful of bringing in the police, Frank decides to try to determine the actual circumstances before informing anyone other than his closest friend. This begins an unusual murder mystery where a teenage runaway and a man confined to a wheelchair become his allies. The man in the wheelchair was a close confidant of the murdered woman and is very smart.   The case proceeds as with assistance, Frank begins unearthing clues that make him realize that ...

  Review of Monday Morning Quarterback: A Fully Caffeinated Guide to Everything You Need to Know about the NFL , by Peter King ISBN 9781603200806 Five out of five stars Great writing about many sports   While the title would indicate that this book is solely about the NFL, that is not the case. Topics as divergent as high school sports and the emotions of having to put your pet down are the subject of essays. Peter King is an amazing talent as an observer of the world as well as his ability to articulate those points.   Over his career, King has been given deep access to the figures in the sports world. The subjects of the short essays are generally not the events of the big games, but of the actions and positions of the specific players. The focus and dedication that got them there.   The most moving essays deal with personal events. His description of a long high school softball game where his daughter is playing is a classic of sports short stories. Th...

  Review of Go Long!, by Jerry Rice with Brian Curtis, ISBN 9780345496126 Five out of five stars Life of the consummate professional   Throughout his illustrious career in the NFL, Jerry Rice was always the perfectionist professional, performing extra conditioning drills, extra practice reps and always making sure that he ran the most precise routes that he could execute. Even Hall of Fame quarterbacks will underperform if their receivers are not precisely where they are supposed to be. Therefore, much of the success of quarterbacks Joe Montana and Steve Young was due to the excellent target that Jerry Rice always presented.   This is the autobiography of Jerry Rice, starting from his roots in rural Mississippi and his family struggling to make ends meet. His father was a bricklayer that worked every possible day and Jerry worked the fields as soon as he was able. An admittedly shy person, he attended smaller Mississippi Valley State rather than a larger school...

  Review of Cage of Night , by Ed Gorman, ISBN 1565049403 Five out of five stars Hints of occult just may be madness   The storyline in this book provides strong hints of powerful dark forces capable of taking control of human minds and convincing the victim to kill others. Yet, those hints are countered by strong counter hints that it is just innate human nature being driven by an extremely powerful femme fatale. Throughout the book there are short tangential pages alluding to a man about to be executed for murder, yet until the end, there is more than one potential murderer.   Spence is a man that was just discharged from the American Army and is back in his hometown, a small place where everyone knows each other and most of their secrets. While it is the time of the Vietnam War, Spence never left the states. He was somewhat awkward before he left and that has not vanished due to his service. However, his brother Josh has lost his adolescent gawkiness and is n...

  Review of Bomba the Jungle Boy: The Abandoned City , by Roy Rockwood Four out of five stars Influence of Edgar Rice Burroughs clear   The original novel “Tarzan of the Apes,” was written by Edgar Rice Burroughs in 1912. It established a long running storyline about a boy whose family is marooned in Africa and is orphaned at a very young age. He is adopted and raised by a female ape and learns how to survive in the jungle environment.   Bomba is also a white boy that is orphaned, in this case he lives in the Amazon. Like Tarzan, he knows the ways of the jungle, is strong and wiry, capable of great feats of strength, cunning, agility and fighting prowess. This story revolves around the well-used plot device of an abandoned city containing vast stores of golden products.   While Tarzan eventually had Jane, Bomba has as a companion the native boy Gibo. Together, they struggle through a massive earthquake, battle wild creatures that want to kill them and gre...

  Review of Women Wartime Spies , by Ann Kramer, ISBN 9781606711675 Five out of five stars Anything but the seductress   When most people hear the phrase “woman wartime spies” their first thought is often that of the sexy seductress enticing men to go stupid and give up some of their side’s military secrets. This is reinforced by the fact that when many people think of female spies their mind goes to the only female spy they have heard of, Mata Hari. The reality is quite different, history has distorted the role of Mata Hari, as is made clear here her role in espionage has been vastly overstated.   Another fact that is key to the stories here is that some of the women that operated in occupied Europe against the Germans in World War II were parachuted in. Others managed to travel by land and cross the existing borders separating the unoccupied and occupied land. All were volunteers and new the risks. Many of them paid with their lives, although they provided val...