Books since my last review, titles and authors are truncated for brevity:
SOG Kontum by Joe Parnar: A year in the life of MACV-SOG recon men out of Kontum. Great book, shares one thread with every other book I've read about SOG. The compartmentalization, casualties, and 25 year NDA (which they lived up to!) means all of these books are somewhat narrow in the "cast" department. Even though the book is about their year in a unit, I wonder how many people who were there and we don't see their stories. Anyway, this one is, like the others, excellent. I'm glad we're seeing these stories before their authors pass away. There's at least one battle featured in this book I've read about elsewhere, but only a few paragraphs; this book has an entire chapter. Pictures, maps, great writing. Worth a look especially if you're into that unit or SF history in Vietnam.
Handsome johnny: The Life and Death of Johnny Rosselli by Lee Server. Chronicles the life of Chicago gangster turned Hollywood and Las Vegas gangster Johnny Rosselli. Dude lived quite the mafia life and even had some CIA/ Cuba/ Kennedy stuff thrown in. If you like mafia stories and/ or 60's history this is a solid purchase.
Good Hunting by Jack Devine. Former CIA, covers his career from Latin America in the 70's through the post-9/11 world and his retirement as an SIS. Pretty interesting insights into that world and portions of US history (at one point he ran the arms pipeline to the Muj during the mid-80's). A solid pick up.
Better Off Dead by Michael Fleeman. True crime about a woman, her husband, their open marriage, and his eventual murder. What a bunch of morons, especially the murderer. A background link on the story: How investigators solved the love triangle murder case of Sabrina and Robert Limon
Finding Florida by TD Allman. A history of Florida. I got a little bored and only made it halfway through. I might pick it up again. Not a bad book, it just didn't hold my interest in a Kindle filled with other books.
I think I have a few more I haven't posted. Swamp Kings by Jason Ryan (the Alex Murdough murder case in SC), Clash of Carriers by Barrett Tillman (The Marianas Turkey Shoot), and The Kid Stays in the Picture by Robert Evans (Hollywood producer).
SOG Kontum by Joe Parnar: A year in the life of MACV-SOG recon men out of Kontum. Great book, shares one thread with every other book I've read about SOG. The compartmentalization, casualties, and 25 year NDA (which they lived up to!) means all of these books are somewhat narrow in the "cast" department. Even though the book is about their year in a unit, I wonder how many people who were there and we don't see their stories. Anyway, this one is, like the others, excellent. I'm glad we're seeing these stories before their authors pass away. There's at least one battle featured in this book I've read about elsewhere, but only a few paragraphs; this book has an entire chapter. Pictures, maps, great writing. Worth a look especially if you're into that unit or SF history in Vietnam.
Handsome johnny: The Life and Death of Johnny Rosselli by Lee Server. Chronicles the life of Chicago gangster turned Hollywood and Las Vegas gangster Johnny Rosselli. Dude lived quite the mafia life and even had some CIA/ Cuba/ Kennedy stuff thrown in. If you like mafia stories and/ or 60's history this is a solid purchase.
Good Hunting by Jack Devine. Former CIA, covers his career from Latin America in the 70's through the post-9/11 world and his retirement as an SIS. Pretty interesting insights into that world and portions of US history (at one point he ran the arms pipeline to the Muj during the mid-80's). A solid pick up.
Better Off Dead by Michael Fleeman. True crime about a woman, her husband, their open marriage, and his eventual murder. What a bunch of morons, especially the murderer. A background link on the story: How investigators solved the love triangle murder case of Sabrina and Robert Limon
Finding Florida by TD Allman. A history of Florida. I got a little bored and only made it halfway through. I might pick it up again. Not a bad book, it just didn't hold my interest in a Kindle filled with other books.
I think I have a few more I haven't posted. Swamp Kings by Jason Ryan (the Alex Murdough murder case in SC), Clash of Carriers by Barrett Tillman (The Marianas Turkey Shoot), and The Kid Stays in the Picture by Robert Evans (Hollywood producer).
