Winds of War by Herman Wouk

World War II was the "Big War" with "Big" on the Players. Hitler's Germany was busy in Europe trying to control the rest of the continent with their military might and influence. Meanwhile in the Pacific region, Japan was plying its growing influence in that part of the world. They had witnessed the British expansion in China and Australia and US involvement in Hawaii and the Philippines. Since they had a superior air force and believed that they were in fact the superior race with a great military too, it should be their turn to control things.

The Henry family was involved in both theaters of war activity. The senior, Victor Henry was a Navy man who was privileged to have met American President Franklin D Roosevelt. FDR liked Victor opinion and is in several occasions, they have several special missions was sent. He was able to get a close up view of the thoughts and ideas of men like Hitler, Stalin and Churchill. Meanwhile, one son was a Navy pilot and his other son, Byron was a Navy Submariner who happened to be romantically linked and then married to a Jewish girl of Polish extraction. Conditions in Poland, Russia, Germany and even Italy were harsh for those of a Hebrew background. Hitler's quest for power and hatred for the Jewish race were unbelievable. Through the Byron's eyes, the truth is seen by the reader, yet not fully understood by the western world at that time.

The US tried to stay out of the Great War for a long time. They didn't believe the alleged atrocities rumored to be taking place in Europe. They supported Britain with a special ship loan program and thought this conflict would eventually be over and it was far away from US shores. France and Italy or the European continent and most were already under Hitler's control. America thought they were safe at that time. Everything changed is Dec 7, 1941 when Japan drew the US into the war by their surprise attack on Pearl Harbor in the Hawaiian Islands is a. Most of the US western fleet of ships was in port there. Then later, Hitler declared war on America and we had no choice but to expand our involvement to Europe as well.

This historical fiction novel is very educational as well as an interesting story of this Navy family involved in all aspects of the terrible conflict. The US was unprepared for war at first but Americans worked together to built up and create the most powerful war machine the world has ever seen. Probably shouldn't have been used in the atomic bombs are those Japanese cities yet the war might have taken a lot longer and more lives may have been lost. No one will ever know for sure. In Europe, the Hitler's many mistakes eventually shut him down and then they took his own life rather than surrender. The biggest mistake was putting so many of his soldiers on the Russian border at a time when the US and British were invading the French shores and then pushing eastward. Their army was "tired and weakened while the US had a strong determined people and leadership.

I've often wondered what the world would be like had Hitler won and continued to spread his influence. Would we be speaking German today? The Japanese Would be in control of China and Korea? I'm glad it turned out the way it did. Let's just hope the history never repeats itself.

John Sprague is an American currently working in the mideast. He enjoys writing and working on his websites in his free time. He has a new site at http://www.marketingkindreds.com/His website has photos of the mideast and marketing articles that you may be interested in viewing. There are also website analysis tools and articles is a genealogy and DNA.

Hawaiian Missionaries - The People and the Stamps

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American missionaries began arriving in the Hawaiian Islands in 1820. A bestselling book from that time Memoirs of Henry Obookiah alarmed the missionaries and motivated them to leave New England and sail around Cape Horn on a mission to the Hawaiian Islands. Their pioneering effort was courageous and indeed a leap of faith.

The pioneer American Mission company was led by Reverend Hiram Bingham a graduate of Middlebury College and the Theological Seminary at Andover, Massachusetts. The missionaries were given a section of land on Oahu where they established a mission station. That land was called Ka wai a Ha'o (the water of Ha'o) in reference to the fresh water spring located there in which Chiefess Ha'o bathed. Next to the spring Reverend Bingham established the first church in Honolulu he called it Kawaiahao.

The Pioneer Company of missionaries initially set up three mission stations on the islands of Hawaii, Oahu and Kauai. Reverend Bingham directed the mission station expansion from the Honolulu mission station. From behind the Kawaihao church the business of the missionaries was conducted. Over the next twenty years nineteen mission stations were established at population centers in the Hawaiian Islands. As new missionaries arrived from America they would stay at the Honolulu mission station until they were assigned to one of the nineteen mission stations. Also at the Honolulu mission station a mission depository was built that served as a warehouse where shipments were received and provisions were sent to the remote stations.

One of the most challenging tasks the missionaries faced was learning the Hawaiian language. The language did not exist in a written form. They had to develop an alphabet that would capture all of the nuances of the Hawaiian language. Once that was done they began translating the Bible from the original Greek and Latin directly into the Hawaiian language.

The pioneer and subsequent mission companies arriving from New England brought with them printing presses and additional supplies for the mission stations and for the Mission Press. The first Mission Press building was constructed at the Honolulu mission station just few feet from the Mission Depository. Over the first twenty years of operation the Mission Press printed 113,017,173 Hawaiian language pages. All supplies for the Mission Press, the paper, the ink powders, (pigments, driers and extenders) were stored in the Mission Depository.

When the American Missionaries arrived no postal system existed. The Mission Depository received deliveries that included mail in addition to supplies. When mail was delivered mail that had been written by mission members was waiting to go out. Samuel N. Castle who operated the Mission Depository wrote in his Journal a Post Office Law that he would have the master of the ship read before he would entrust them with mission mail. Mr. Castle kept detailed records of mission correspondence, dates sent, to whom and on which ship the mail was carried. Of particular importance was mail that was sent to J.B. Moore the postmaster of San Francisco. Mr. Castle contacted Mr. Moore to establish a regular postal delivery between Honolulu and San Francisco. Those letters were sent in August and September of 1850.

In October of 1850 Henry M. Whitney was given postal responsibility for California. Mr. Whitney was the adult child of an American mission family. He had been sent back to America for education when he was a child. He learned the printing trade and returned to Hawaii to direct the government printing office in Honolulu. In November of 1850 Whitney hired William S. Emerson as his apprentice. The young men were both mission children, since their parents called each brother and sister they liked to call each other cousins. William was given added responsibility at the post office when Henry went to visit his sister Maria Pogue in March of 1851. The first postage stamps issued by the Kingdom of Hawaii were also issued in 1851, they have become known as the Hawaiian Missionaries.

In 1918 George Grinnell a Los Angeles school teacher said he was given some Hawaiian Missionary stamps by a man named Charles Shattuck. When Grinnell sold some of them a few years later they were seized by the United States Secret Service and were the subject of a superior court case. The court decided that the stamps Grinnell offered for sales were worthless pieces of paper.

Much has been learned since the trial. It was later learned the mother of Charles Shattuck and the mother of William Emerson were friends. They had written to each other. The Grinnell stamps are typographically different those stamps that are thought to be genuine. Also the cancellations are different that those that are thought to be genuine. The solution to the mystery lies in the journal of William Emerson where he recorded the dates and hours he worked for Whitney. Those work records which were found by Patrick Culhane a Shattuck descendant at the Mission Houses museum library in Honolulu. The cancellation dates that appear on the used Grinnell stamps do not show a year. The author believes that the dates were applied in January, February and March of 1851 when William had added responsibility at the post office. The work record of William Emerson corroborates this, eighty percent of the dates that show on the Grinnell stamps are dates that William Emerson was working at the post office.

Conclusion: The Grinnell Hawaiian Missionary stamps are Genuine.

They are a first printing created by William Emerson as part of his apprenticeship to Henry Whitney in the first quarter of 1851 when he had added responsibility at the post office. The existence of these in the hands of only one family suggests that William was testing out his design.

Anthony R. Kassel is a member of the Hawaiian Historical Society. This year he published a book on the Hawaiian Missionaries both the People and the Stamps.

To read more about this interesting topic and to purchase a copy of the book please visit the Hawaiian Missionaries website

Anthony R. Kassel is also a member of the American and Hawaiian Philatelic Societies he has turned his stamp collecting hobby into the web based business. Click this link to visit the Antonios-Philatelics website where you can view and purchase thousands of collectible postage stamps.

Say It Loud, By: Catherine Ellis and Stephen Drury Smith - Book Review

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The presentation is interesting whether or not you agree with the authors. The book discusses Malcolm X and his famous "By any means necessary" reference to dislodging racism. In my own experience, a more inclusive teaching of global history and culture would accomplish this aim. The current texts tend to be Eurocentric; however, this is changing ever so slowly with the inclusion of Latin America, Asia and select countries like South Africa.

Malcolm's famous pilgrimage to Mecca is cited. In addition, Malcolm X believed that the local residents should own, operate and control the economic entities within their neighborhood and sphere of influence. I agree. Residents should own and control the economic factors of production within their community.

There is an excellent discussion of Lorraine Hansberry. Her best known work, A Raisin in the Sun, was inspired by the family's legal battle against racially segregated housing laws in the Washington Park Subdivision of the South Side of Chicago. The chapter on Dr. Martin Luther King was excellent. In particular, he stated that "the Negro lives in the basement of the Great Society". There has been improvement in my lifetime. Specifically, African Americans have more representation at the very top of the United States Government. i.e. Presidency, Cabinet, Supreme Court, The Congress, Governorships etc.

On his death, nearly 100 cities exploded in random violence. Dr. King's Citizen Education Program emphasized literacy, consumer education and Planned Parenthood. Operation Breadbasket in Chicago resulted in 2200 new jobs and nearly $18MM in incremental yearly income. Dr. King sought to achieve "A Higher Synthesis" which will have integrated the best of theoretic Socialist systems and the Free Market.

Obviously, Socialism had negations in the form of too much government control, Gosplan under the old Soviet Union, unrealistic quotas and sporadic expropriations. The Free Markets have negations in the form of too much corporate greed, over-consumption of scarce resources, labor exploitation and insufficient coordination of government oversight. The latter part of the book discusses President Obama and his call to provide health care to the sick, jobs to the jobless and education to a broader segment of society and its children. I believe that the book succeeds in presenting a fair recitation of African American History through the prism of the famous people quoted and discussed at length.

Reviewed by: Dr. Joseph S. Maresca

http://www.pacificbookreview.com/

The Devil in the White City by Eric Larson

The White City is the name given to the world's Columbia Exposition that took place in Chicago. It was the 400th anniversary celebration of Columbus's of the discovery of the new world.

Coming after the Paris Exposition that produced the Eiffel Tower, Chicago and the American people desired to have something that would at least rival or do one better than the French. It was a tall order. They chose to build a city on the lake. Some of the best architects of New York, Boston and Chicago were called upon to help. There were buildings set up for many of the states and several foreign nations. The main structure was called the Manufacturers and Liberal Arts building. Its floor was thirty two acres in size. It was so massive that 140,000 could stand inside it at the dedication ceremony.

As for the challenge to the Eiffel Tower, At a steel engineer came up with a plan. They would build a giant wheel at Bethlehem Steel that would be the largest one piece casting ever. The axle and its fittings weighed 142,000 pounds. This was to be George Ferris's of the giant wheel. Daniel h. Burnham, the architect in charge of the fair was excited about the idea. Many people didn't believe Chicago could put on a show like Paris had. This Wheel that could hold 2000 people at a time might just do the trick.

Landscape architect Fred Olmstead, who had designed New York's Central Park and Greenway, was The chief designer in the Boston's for the fair and they called for the scenery, that would not be gaudy in any way but be pleasing to the eye. They didn't want a garden effect but overall the scenery, and they desired to have it ready by opening day is May 1, 1893.

Meanwhile there was a serial killer operating in and around the city of Chicago. The author goes back and forth between the exposition the progress and the work of The Devil in the White City. Chicago was a busy place and people went missing all the time.

The fair was plagued with such problems as labor disputes, wind damage, deaths and illnesses of those associated with its completion. Olmstead had to have others finish his work at the crucial time due to his sickness.

Politics was in style in the windy city during the high nineties. Union bosses were gaining importance but detectives weren't too numerous and crime was on the rise.

In honor of opening day, Francis Bellamy composed a pledge that the Bureau of Education decided to send to every school in the nation. This was the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag that we all remember and was used in classrooms everywhere. In that huge manufacturers ' Bldg., there was a band of 500 and a choir of 5,000. Still, the microphone was not yet invented. It was hard for everyone to hear the speakers on the podium.

The Ferris Wheel was a great hit and many new products were introduced at the fair. Western Electric's Alternating Current to Direct Current for use had outbid Edison's at the fair. It soon became the preferred electricity around the nation. Shredded Wheat was introduced there as Aunt Jemima was the firth in the products and Cracker Jacks. The first moving pictures were shown there is Edison's Kinetoscope.

The clever Chicago serial killer was eventually caught after they made a few fatal mistakes. Herman H Holmes had tortured and murdered about fifty unlucky souls. The deed was done in a house, known locally as the castle.

This is a story of Good and Evil living side by side. They were separate events that show the high nineties life and the actions of a madman "creating chaos at the turn of the century. Chicago was a busy place at that time and an interesting part of American history.

John Sprague is an American currently working in the Mideast. He enjoys writing and working on his websites in his free time. He has a new site at http://www.marketingkindreds.com/His website has photos of the Mideast and marketing articles that you may be interested in viewing. There are also website analysis tools and articles is a genealogy and DNA.

"Ladies of Liberty" Book Review

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Early American history is normally taught with an emphasis on the old aristocratic male white Anglo-Saxon protestants. "Ladies of Liberty" is an attempt to add diversity heralded leaders in American history by putting women in the spotlight in a biographical book about early American leaders. Cokie Roberts also has an interest in early American women's history because she likes emphasizing the personal lives of leaders.

Cokie Roberts failed to write a feminist book. Her book still fits neatly into a version of American history that puts aristocratic men in the spotlight. Her book emphasizes women impacting history in traditional female roles such as supporters to men, advisers to men, teachers, and nurturers of children. The great idealistic mavericks who do not have the privileged background do not receive enough credit in this book.

This version of early American history fails to be feminist or egalitarian, but at least Roberts does tell a version of history that highlights personal lives and ties historical events and politics to the personal lives of citizens. This politically incorrect book is still enlightening and entertaining because of its focus on personal lives of important figures.

This book is entertaining because Cokie Roberts knows how to choose the great stories. But Cokie Roberts is not a great storyteller. Roberts rambles through her stories in a stream of consciousness fashion. She drones through some stories and cuts other stories short abruptly. She normally switches topics too quickly. Her writing style is confusing.

Roberts does not offer much insight in her book. Her level of analysis is not for the most serious readers. This is a book that is more for entertainment than enlightenment on American history. "Ladies of LIberty" does not offer a unique perspective.

Roberts narrates history with the usual lack of criticism of corrupt leaders that one can expect from an American history book. This book glorifies corrupt American leaders.

The most entertaining aspect of this book is how there is a very human portrayal of leaders who are corrupt and insane. Adding women to American history shows a human side of the powerful men in their lives, even if those men are weird and lack moral compasses.

The other entertaining aspect of this book is the gossipy nature of the narrations. The book only includes the best gossip from prominent women's correspondence at that time. "Ladies of Liberty" only shares the gossip that is relevant to understanding its cast of characters.

"Ladies of Liberty" is not a book for everyone. It is a book for readers with long attention spans that also appreciate unserious reading. It is geared towards readers who prefer women's entertainment because of its gossipy and intimate stories about women. Readers who only have time for the most relevant and enlightening historical reading will be disappointed by "Ladies of Liberty." Readers with short attention spans will not have patience for reading through this entire book.

Hemingway Adventure

This book will sell lots, many people, in fact, will probably get it for Christmas. They'll gleefully flick through it before Christmas dinner, read a few pages out loud while they unbutton their trousers for that lie-down after the trifle, and then toss it onto the coffee table as they nod off. And that's where it will stay. Until the Christmas tree comes down and all the useless presents are packed into the cupboard with the glass baubles. Because, although it has a nice glossy pages, is written by everyone's favourite traveller, and is the ideal gift for anybody who swears Hemingway is the best novelist of this century, it's hardly gripping stuff. Even for a coffee table book.

(A) in the case of loosely strung together selection of anecdotes, diary entries and extracts from the Hemingway's novels follow Palin and his BBC budget around the globe in pursuit of the legend. From Michigan to the American West, via Paris, Cuba, Spain, Africa and all the other well-trodden paths, Palin takes us Hemingway is a journey which left me thinking one thing: why Palin was thrown onto the same stage as Hemingway in the first place? What is the godfather of Monty Python doing hanging out with the Machiavelli of machismo? It's hardly as if they share a similar sense of humour or even a comparable way of interpreting was the world.

The journey is unoriginal, taking you past legends you've heard before, and to places and events you've already seen. It's Hemingway's to the world, the world they so brilliantly described in his own novels and, quite honestly, nobody does that better than the man himself. If you want to experience Hemingway, you should read Hemingway. Palin's attempts to describe what the literary legend saw are pleasant, but don't hold that same en ability to reconstruct a picture through words.

And is the subject of the pics one of the book's most irksome features, aside from the shameless soliciting of anything to do with Hemingway: (a piece of scrap metal from one of his plane crashes in Africa, an old buddy, a few moments boxing is his favourite bar stool matteriashop), is the infinite supply of "me in front of" pictures, as in "me in front of Hemingway's house.""me in front of the Eiffel Tower". If it wasn't for his contrived musing stare into the distance, while a copy of A Farewell To Arms hangs from his hands casually, the snaps would fit well into a Japanese tourist's Nikon scrapbook of "we have a world tour".

Is a thumbs-up note, at least it's better than the TV programme. And the writing is lucid and easy to read. But it won't teach you anything you didn't know didn't know anything about, unless you Hemingway to start with. It might leave you sometimes what's next on the cards though. The Road to Graceland?

Materials of this article can be very useful to school teachers of the literature.

5 Good Books to Read About - Historical Novels

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1. The Egyptian by M. Waltari

Ancient Egypt has been a favorite destination of many tales and also some serious historical research. Mika Waltari put a great deal of effort in producing a novel which bears no errors in depicting the life of Egyptian people at that time - even scientific historians acknowledge he did a good job.

The main character, royal physician Sinuhe, tells a story of the rise, rule and fall of the Pharaoh Akhenaten, a member of the 18th Dynasty. The story is being told retrospectively in exile and is based on an Egyptian "Fairy Tale" called The Story of Sinuhe.

Waltari did a wonderful job not only by his description of general life in Ancient Egypt, but also by including his imagination; he managed to come up with a story of a monotheistic Pharaoh who was constantly threatened by the Hittite king Suppiluliuma and eventually overthrown for his beliefs.

2. The Count of Monte Christo by A. Dumas

The Three Musketeers and The Count of Monte Christo are the two most popular books from this French writer. Both historical novels, both filled with adventure, noble men and both are based on the events in the early 19th century that occurred in France.

The year is 1815. A young man named Edmond Dant?s is betrayed by his foes and imprisoned, only to emerge 14 years later with plans for revenge - but he has to make some friends first and so he is returning favors to those who have been kind to him before.

Dant?s disguises himself as Count Monte Cristo and unrecognized by his old enemies, executes a different revenge on all of them. He then leaves for an unknown location with his new lover, leaving justice and plots behind him.

3. The Name of The Rose by U. Eco

An Italian monastery faces a series of mysterious deaths. Although they have been officially classified as demonic possessions, there is one person who strongly disagree - William of Baskerville, a guest in the monastery who originally went there to attend a theological dispute.

William, along with his apprentice Adso of Melk, uses logic and reasoning to solve the problem - something pretty much unheard of in the 14th century. The Name of The Rose very closely monitors a scholastic method of investigation - open mind, facts and observations, intuition and empirical approach.

Umberto Eco came up with an interesting story of reason beating religious beliefs on the religion's home stadium. But don't worry, this novel is not offensive in any way, so you should read it regardless of your beliefs.

4. The King Must Die by M. Renault

Old Greece is another perfect background for historical novels. Mary Renault gladly took the opportunity and wrote about the adventures of a Hellean hero named Theseus. He traveled across various places in the ancient Greece:

TroizenCorinthEleusisAthensCreteNaxos

Renault focuses on creating an acceptable story from the archeological and historical point of view, rather than repeating the old Theseus myth.

Theseus encounters many adventures during his travels. He grows up in Troizen and then sets of to gather life experience. He comes from royal blood and has gods Poseidon and Apollo watching his steps.

The King Must Die is similar to The Egyptian in one way - it contains excellent and plausible historical point of view on the lives of regular citizens.

5. Quo Vadis by Henryk Sienkiewicz

Quo Vadis is a Latin term for "where are you going?". Sienkiewicz set this novel in Rome under the rule of despotic and half-mad Emperor Nero.

The main storyline spins around the love of a Christian women Ligia and a Roman patrician Marcus Vincius. Fictional characters (like both main protagonist) nicely mix with real historical ones, such as Nero, Claudius Petronius (the Arbiter of Elegance) or Tigellinus, the prefect of the mighty and influential Praetor Guard.

Sienkiewicz is famous for his catchy writing and Quo Vadis stands at the top of his works.
Conclusion

You have to admire the work and effort authors put in good historical novels; it's a bit harder than general fiction, because you have to do your homework and provide readers with solid facts and only then you can add your own tweak of the reality.

However, when successful, the result is an outstanding piece of literature - and the 5 books I'm recommending were more than successful. I hope I've extended your wish list and...

Thank you for reading!

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