Eyes of the Fleet over Vietnam: RF-8 Crusader Combat Photo-Reconnaissance Missions by Kenneth V. Jack, Casemate, 2021, $39.95. The Navy and Marine Corps F-8 Crusader community was known for stratospheric morale despite the speedy Vought’s reputation as a pilot killer. But “Last of the Gunfighters” remains the ’sader’s lingering image, even though the type retired … Lire la suite

Wings of Gold: The Story of the First Women Naval Aviators, by Beverly Weintraub, Lyons Press, 2021, $ 32.95.  Review by Eileen J. Bjorkman Little has been written about the women military aviators of the 1970s and 1980s who paved the way for women to fly in combat. Beverly Weintraub’s Wings of Gold begins to … Lire la suite

Lee Morehouse’s 1901 portrait of Chief Joseph informed sculptor Georgia Bunn’s statue, at bottom, of the celebrated Nez Perce. (Special Collections, University of Washington Libraries) Chief Joseph (1840–1904) of the Nez Perce remains among the most celebrated American Indians of the 19th century, thanks to period photographs, books, magazine articles, paintings and public sculptures. Sculptors … Lire la suite

In February 1837, the U.S. Supreme Court, voting 5-2, rejected a claim by owners of a toll bridge in Boston that the Massachusetts legislature had acted unconstitutionally in authorizing construction of a second, competing bridge. The ruling meant little to Bostonians. The second span, the Warren Bridge, connecting their city with the Charlestown neighborhood, then … Lire la suite

Unsettled History: America, China and the Doolittle Tokyo Raid. Paradox Communications, 2022. Airs in April on public television stations. Check local listings for day and time.  On April 18, 1942, 16 B-25 Mitchell bombers under the command of Lt. Col. James Doolittle lifted off the storm-tossed deck of the carrier USS Hornet and headed west … Lire la suite

Earl Hess has added the study of human-animal relationships and their roles in the Civil War to his long list of scholarship. In his new Animal Histories of the Civil-War Era, he gathers essays on subjects ranging from insects and bees to hogs, dogs, camels, and horses. The war not only exposed the need for … Lire la suite

While the actual fighting occurred in Normandy, victory would never have been achieved in France without help from Britain’s south coast.  Standing on the waterfront in Portsmouth, with the choppy waters of the harbor sparkling like crumpled aluminum foil in front of me, it’s difficult to make sense of the scathing comments of previous visitors … Lire la suite

In World War I, the U.S. Army established the Citation Star, which in 1932 became the Silver Star, its third highest award for combat heroism. The Silver Star was authorized for the Navy and Marine Corps in August 1942. In World War I and early World War II, Marines serving in the Army could be … Lire la suite

While the katana sword tends to be associated with male samurai of Japan, a distinctive weapon called the naginata has been traditionally associated with women and female fighters known as onna-bugeisha. Why is the naginata so strongly associated with women—and is it true that the weapon was designed with women in mind?   The naginata … Lire la suite

In the spring of 1843, the first ripple of a coming tide of would-be settlers piled everything they owned into canvas-covered wagons, handcarts and any other vehicle that could move, and set out along a dim trace called the “Emigrant Road.” They went by way of a route that was a broad ribbon of threads, … Lire la suite