The title of this month’s blog might be confusing, so I’ll clarify. When I mention “my favorite books” I do not mean favorites that I have read, though I’ve read several three times or more. They include Edward P. Stafford’s The Big E; Michael Shaara’s The Killer Angels ; Stephen Coonts’ Flight of Intruder; and Stephen Hunter’s anthology Now Playing at the Valencia.
When I say “my favorite books,” I mean my favorite books. At present 46 volumes have my name on the cover, and I’ve contributed to a dozen others with anthologies, dedicated chapters, introductions and whatnot.
Ask authors with more than three books to name their favorite, and you’ll likely get “The one I’m writing now.” That’s understandable, as writers bring enthusiasm to each new project, especially if the money is good.
Sidebar: some critics dismiss an author’s new release by saying, “He’s writing for money now.”
Like that’s a bad thing?
You don’t hear people saying, “He’s flying for money now” or “She’s litigating for money now.”
Therefore: consult your dictionary and look up “professional”—as in “professional writer.”
And maybe get back to me.
So, back to My Favorite Books.
Everyone is especially fond of My First Book, if only for sentimental reasons. Mine was The Dauntless Dive Bomber of World War II, published by Naval Institute Press in 1976, reprinted in 2006. It grew out of my father’s restoration of the world’s only airworthy Douglas SBD at the time, early to mid 70s. What an inspiration. I was blessed to get about eight hours in the gunner’s seat, lending authenticity to the first operational history of the plane that won the Pacific War.
Dauntless Dive Bomber set the pattern for subsequent Naval Institute volumes including the Grumman F4F Wildcat and F6F Hellcat, plus the Vought F4U Corsair and F8U/F-8 Crusader. Remarkably few authors recognized the gap in operational histories of tailhook aircraft. All were well received, as readers liked the mixture of narrative emphasis with a leavening of technical development.
Some books commend themselves because the subjects have been overlooked or warrant updating. There had never been a single-volume history of Allied air operations over Japan until Whirlwind (Simon & Schuster, 2010). The Wall Street Journal firewalled its review, sending the book to Amazon’s number 36 overall. (Thank you, Dan Ford!)
Equally remarkably, apparently nobody had done more than photo coverage of the climax of World War II. When the Shooting Stopped: August 1945 (Bloomsbury-Osprey, 2022) relied heavily on sources compiled in the previous four decades, as only two of the participants I cited were still living upon publication.
Clash of the Carriers (Caliber, 2005) probably was the first account of the Battle of the Philippine Sea in 21 years. “The Marianas Turkey Shoot” of June 1944 remains a landmark in Pacific Theater operations, and I benefited from emerging scholarship plus contact with dozens of participants including a senior Japanese pilot.
In 2012 when Simon & Schuster released Enterprise: America’s Fightingest Ship, there had been no in-depth account since Edward P. Stafford’s landmark 1962 The Big E. I noted its influence on me at the beginning of this blog, and during my writing process, Commander Stafford agreed that the world needs a Big E book every 50 years.
Among nonfiction, Enterprise remains my sentimental favorite. I had more emotional investment in the subject than with any other book because I knew so many of those men so well for so long. Pacific War students will recognize the names of Dick Best, Swede Vejtasa, Robin Lindsey, Bill Martin, Jig Dog Ramage, and so many others.
Another odd gap in the literature: the 100th anniversary of the aircraft carrier. Because British Royal Navy operations began in 1917, I anticipated a centennial volume, hoping that nobody else recognized the opportunity. And apparently no one did: On Wave and Wing came from Regency History in 2017.
As any World War II historian will tell you, books published as recently as ten years ago could not be written today. That’s because of attrition among the wartime generation. My colleagues and I were fortunate to know dozens of veterans from the era—and don’t overlook the civilians—as invaluable sources. Today, “War Two” historians increasingly rely on oral histories and secondary sources.
Meanwhile, as the saying goes, Time marches on. In 2014 Steve Coonts called, suggesting a book about Thanh Hoa Bridge, North Vietnam’s most notorious target. Fortunately, I’d compiled a reference file in the 80s. Five years later Da Capo released The Dragon’s Jaw, and none too soon. Many contributors had waited 50 years to tell their stories, and we benefited from their eagerness. Again, the story as we’ve told it probably could not be duplicated today.
I have coauthored memoirs with some extraordinary aviators, starting with Major General Marion Carl, the gold standard of Marine Corps pilots. Pushing the Envelope (1987) is a straight-forward account of Marion’s exceptional career in combat and flight test. In the foreword I noted that he described milking cows and aerial combat in the same tone of voice.
Marion was murdered by a teenaged career criminal in 1998. The bastard was sentenced to death but the sentence was commuted by a judge who claimed the defendant had inadequate representation, reducing to life without parole.
Another memoir was an anthology with three retired navy captains. World War II ace Richard “Zeke” Cormier; three-time astronaut Wally Schirra; and carrier skipper Phil Wood combined their overlapping careers in Wildcats to Tomcats. It was published in 1995 after years of back-and-forthing though Wally wanted to call it A Tale of Three Hookers.
One of my three best friends was the late Commander John Nichols, USN. He contributed to my F-8 Crusader book, and a few years later he proposed On Yankee Station: The Naval Air War in Vietnam (Naval Institute 1987). Rather than a chronology, we took a thematic approach with John and others’ comments on carrier operations, strike warfare, the threats, and morale, among others. Some Navy squadrons took it to Desert Storm as a reality check.
Subsequently we collaborated on a Mideast novel, Warriors (Bantam 1990). It appeared just in time for Entertainment Tonight to criticize us for “war profiteering,” as if we anticipated Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait by a couple of years.
Anyway, we did profit significantly!
The SBD reappeared in Dauntless: A Novel of Midway and Guadalcanal Bantam 1992). It’s my favorite full-length fiction, although some friends I respect as aviators and authors prefer the sequel, Hellcats: A Novel of the War in the Pacific. Fighter pilots especially like the descriptions of aerial combat, down to such esoterica as proper leads at deflection angles.
Possibly the record for a marathon novel was Duel Over Douai, a Great War aero epic written by stages with two unindicted co-conspirators, Commanders R.R. “Boom” Powell and Jack Woodul. We had fun inserting ourselves in the text, respectively a title Briton, a New Mexico mankiller, and a German Priceline. It was something like 12 years en route, but the e-book result remains highly satisfying.
Among my other fiction is a trilogy proposed by military novelist Harold Coyle. The theme is a private military contractor doing Deniable Work at home and abroad. Pandora’s Legion, Prometheus’ Child, and Vulcan’s Fire were released in 2006-2007. I enjoyed the varied cast of good guys-gals and some really-really bad guys, though some had mitigating circumstances. But not everybody survived.
So there’s once-over not-so-easy. Some of my favorites are out of print, and some publishers have failed. But I remain grateful to all who contributed in whatever way: topic suggestions, memories, sources, proof-reading, editing, and marketing.
After all, the foregoing is part of “writing for money.”
