JJ Hill

Great Leadership Explained

Revisado: 11-21-23

I met this man when he was USCINCSO in Panama and I was an obscure US Navy officer, working far down the chain of command in Quito, Ecuador. I remember him well, though I doubt he would have ever been able to remember me, despite having sent me two gracious and kind personal notes. My point in saying the above is simply to add emphasis to the fact that John R. Galvin’s memoir portrays precisely the man I observed from afar (and sometimes up close), without pretense or overstatement. As this man is also, this book is one for the ages — worthy in every way as a book of history, and as a book of principled philosophy. I wish more world leaders could emulate these same qualities and understanding of leadership.

My downgrading the Performance mark by one star reflects my constant pique over the numerous audiobook narrators who mispronounce words. Tom Lennon’s narration is wonderful, evocative and nearly perfect in every way…except for the numerous mispronunciations. My “favorite” mispronunciation was the word “Croats,” spoken as rhyming with “oats,” instead of “CROW-ats.”

Audiobooks are a production, neither spontaneous nor impromptu. Thus, IMHO, all audiobook producers owe it to the narrator to provide simple preparation and guidance for pronouncing the words in question.

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A Full Lifetime in a Single Year

Revisado: 05-19-22

God bless Lew Jennings, all those who flew with him, and all those who flew in Vietnam. I write these words as a retired Naval Aviator, with a son who flew combat missions with the U.S. Army in Afghanistan, and as a fellow lover of all things that fly.

I have to say I was pleasantly surprised by Jennings’ references in the Prologue and the Epilogue regarding his 2 years of active duty service with the “Gray Hairs,” flying ISR and logistics missions in Iraq during OIF. I found that amazing and extraordinary, going completely above and beyond. My hat is off to those extraordinary gentlemen.

From my limited perspective, what I feel makes this book unique and worthy is that it’s not just a self-focused personal memoir. Within Jennings’ narrative are also some very detailed and illuminating depictions of the experiences of his colleagues, and in their own words. Jennings bestows this ample space to others in the pages of his book, giving credit where it is due. He very respectfully permits his fellow pilots to add their own voices to this very compelling narrative. Jennings’ choice to add these other voices enriches the narrative, adding greater depth, broader perspectives, and the ring of unvarnished truth. In so doing, he recreates the stark realities in which he and each of his brothers in arms were inescapably immersed each and every day — whether they were flying or not. Some of the unique and descriptive language used had me smiling and even laughing at their expressive cleverness.

In my estimation, a patriot is one who puts his or her own life and health in jeopardy in service to a worthy cause much greater than self, which service benefits many if not all of their fellow citizens. These patriots of U.S. Army Aviation, did that and more. In a very real sense, considering their extremely perilous sojourns in combat, one could say they each lived a lifetime in a single year of life in Vietnam. I believe Lew Jennings and his combat colleagues fully deserve that designation as true patriots.

I rate this book 5 stars because it honestly, accurately, and compellingly adds some important voices to the growing body of Vietnam War history. I judge that it does so without any of the sometimes customary hints of self-aggrandizement or historical arguments I so often seem to find in memoirs and autobiographies.

Thank you Major Jennings; nicely done.

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An Intimate Portrait and Clear Picture of a Very Entertaining and Complex Spy Case

Revisado: 12-21-21

I have become a big fan of historical authors like Ben MacIntyre, Erik Larson, and Rick Atkinson. These authors weave together extraordinary and intimate views of the lives and circumstances of both historical and private figures using the unique and more-personal source materials that are available today. In many cases these source materials have never been seen nor used before.

For decades I’ve been a fan of historical non-fiction literature regarding the organizations, people, accomplishments, and craft of the international spy trade. MacIntyre’s fascinating book is among the very best that I’ve read in this genre, judging from the intimacy he has achieved with the subject matter and the clarity of understanding he offers regarding the objectives and methods of modern espionage.

As a general comment about historical literature in general, I must add that “Agent Zigzag” is yet another example of how the human history of our world contains an astonishing and seemingly uncountable number of human stories, worthy of the telling. Ben MacIntyre has yet again produced an intimate historical portrait, filled with the rich details of an extraordinary cast of real characters living their lives in a period of major upheaval. MacIntyre engages the reader with his particularly gripping and impressive accounts of the intertwined actions, reactions, and experiences born out of the lives and times of people in the maelstrom of a world war.

We humans are a unique race of beings. Under stresses both positive and negative, both good and evil, it seems we’re capable of just about anything. As MacIntyre shows us in this case, that “just about anything” includes some of the most absurd, vulgar, delightful, abhorrent, courageous, witty, and sensational contrasts of behaviors, beliefs, and endeavors.

Remarkably, this account of Agent Zigzag left me interested and admiring of Eddie Chapman — a man whom I might otherwise wish to avoid in person. I, for one, am grateful for the research abilities and the descriptive writing prowess of the author Ben MacIntyre. He has an author’s gift for both research and description.

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Full of Personal Insights

Revisado: 05-09-21

This particular history of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor is unique and extraordinary because of its focus on very numerous, brief, revealing and often-poignant direct quotations from those who were present that day. The book gives insight into how it must have felt to be present that day. On this point alone the book is a roaring success.

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With Gratitude for All Those Who Willingly Put Themselves in Harm’s Way Unselfishly

Revisado: 04-11-21

I am embarrassed to say of myself that, at first and for several chapters as I listened, I struggled to overcome my own selfish bias and prejudices against the writing skills, narration, and technical-recording limitations of SFC McKim’s book. He is a man worthy in every respect to write and tell these stories of the courage and sacrifices of our national military treasures. I’m glad I persevered. If I hadn’t, I would have stupidly impoverished my own soul with hubris and ignorance. Thank you Keith McKim.

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A Master Storyteller

Revisado: 02-25-21

Michael Tougias is a master of his genre. I have listened to several of his books and have yet to be disappointed with any of his writings. They are all interesting — even fascinating — and they are filled with respect for the fishermen, seamen and aircrew who regularly risk their lives as a condition of the work they do.

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Into the Stratosphere; Worth the Wait

Revisado: 01-06-21

From the get-go of my review here, I acknowledge my being a biased reviewer of this book’s subject matter. I’m a 60-something, retired Navy pilot who I figure has never really had much of that right stuff, if I ever had any at all. However, since boyhood I’ve had great interest in space travel, astronomy, and all things NASA, while gobbling up National Geographic and Life magazine pictures and descriptions, histories and biographies of the astronaut program, sci-fi film and TV offerings... you get the picture.

I first read The Right Stuff in paperback over 35 years ago. I followed my initial experience with the printed book by viewing the Hollywood film version of it — once on the big screen and at least 3 or 4 times with family and friends at home over the next 3 decades. Top that all off with my recent completion of Season 1 of the Disney+ TV series of the same name and subject.

Why am I saying all this? Simply to give credence to my observation that I have never enjoyed my personal experiences with The Right Stuff — in all of its media permutations of glory — as much as I have while listening to this Audible version of it.

What made it so? Dennis Quaid as the narrator.

With this Audible version, Quaid has launched Tom Wolfe’s fun, smirky, sassy, gorgeous, and surgically precise prose into the stratosphere. Quaid’s narration voice was made for this book. Perhaps such a thing was first evident to this Audible version’s producers in the screen role Quaid performed decades ago as “Gordo” Cooper in the 1983 cinema production of The Right Stuff. The voice and screen persona Quaid built around the character of Gordo years ago was the perfect audition and preparation for his contribution to this 2018 project with Audible. Quaid’s voice and performance is the perfect medium for this irreverently-unique and uniquely-demanding audio production as only Tom Wolfe could have delivered it — being a military aviation outsider. It just had to be Tom Wolfe who wrote this book!

In spite of Wolfe’s outsider status, his book accurately and recognizably (to me at least) portrays in broad strokes a number of the experiences my wife and I had as a couple of married youngsters negotiating our new life in Naval Aviation. I believe Wolfe’s depictions of the astronauts’ and wives’ lives do also broadly characterize the lives of most young marrieds in military aviation — ultra-focused and compartmentalized flying men, worried women struggling with varying degrees of loneliness and fear of the unknown, uniquely contrived social situations within squadron hierarchies, etc. I can say unequivocally that those general concepts Wolfe described in the book did resonate deeply with me as well.

Thus Quaid’s narrative voice and performance strongly elicited in me a very certain recognition of those forgotten feelings. He also evoked belly laughs, snorts, snickers, giggles, knowing nods, smiles, eye rolls, and all that. Those reactions and enjoyments are precisely what I believe Tom Wolfe intended when he wrote the book in his own inimitable, acerbic style.

The Wolfe-Quaid combo certainly worked for me. Well done, Audible! Bravo!

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An Important Contribution to Naval History

Revisado: 10-24-20

Commander Lippold’s contribution to the U.S. Navy’s 245-year historical narrative provides additional and needed perspectives on the lessons still being learned about how America needs to prepare itself and respond to the threats of terrorism — both onshore and offshore. In particular, the book provides important, even crucial, insights into how the U.S. government did, didn’t, could have, and should have handled the entire USS Cole affair, from before the attack happened and for years afterward. CDR Lippold’s insights are extremely enlightening because he — more than any other survivor of the attack — stood at dead center of its aftermath and stood to lose more than any other survivor involved.

I have but a single criticism of the book: the narration is difficult to listen to. This of course is a highly subjective judgment, so I should explain myself. I realize my opinion of the narration involves some amount of personal bias and prejudice. These most certainly arise out of my 24 years of service as an officer in the Navy (also retired as a Commander), and from my own personal predilections.

That said, I do think it was a mistake by Blackstone Audio to allow CDR Lippold to do his own narration. CDR Lippold’s own voice adds unmistakable power and authenticity to the narration. However, the tones and inflections of CDR Lippold’s voice are also very distracting. Because the voice tones rarely change in intensity, to me they come across as far too emotional. Because — generally speaking — this tale is in many respects an emotional one, I suspect that CDR Lippold was coached to sound the way he does narrating his audio book and personal story.

I have been an avid, extensive and widely-ranging reader, listener, and viewer of history for nearly four decades. I very highly value the feelings of confidence in me produced from a narrative that conveys knowledge of the record with certain detachment and balance. Unfortunately for this narrative, those feelings of evenhandedness are mostly absent, even in spite of the clearly copious and excellent source material.

Instead, the recorded audio narrative seems overhyped. The narrator’s voice sounds unrelentingly intense. It feels overly emotional. Lippold’s tone of voice feels overcharged. I can and do deeply understand Lippold’s likely lasting and rightful feelings of betrayal and anger, especially since the USS Cole affair has played itself out on the world stage. However, this tone regrettably comes across in the narration as an unforgiving anger — mistakenly implying possible clues that this book might contain a slightly unbalanced rendering of history. And that is why I have these regrettable feelings — Lippold’s book details an important slice of history, and I have no doubt that every detail of it is true.

The terrorist attack on the USS Cole is an important episode in military history because of what it represents and because of what it teaches. After listening to CDR Lippold’s intense and gripping account, it’s my opinion that one will likely gain more from reading the book than by listening to it. I very strongly recommend this book!

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Focused

Revisado: 05-19-20

This excellent book provides a well-researched and highly useful look at one of the crucial and deeply consequential episodes in American history. This narrative arises out of the Soviet penetration of the U.S. government, and in particular, the stealing of U.S. atomic research during and after World War II. Anyone looking for a good introduction into the effects and ramifications of the Venona program, will find that this book is as good a place to start as any. The book provides a well-documented and compelling insider view. Focusing-in on the Rosenberg spy ring — in order to explain the efforts of key people in the FBI, and their cryptographic code-breaking Venona work — is a very useful way for a casual reader to begin to grasp how the history-changing theft of U.S. atomic secrets played out. The author’s acknowledgment of sources, as the final chapter of this book, is also an excellent introduction to many key books, collections, and webpages available to interested parties.
I am left to wonder at the conclusions of Meredith Gardner and Robert Lamphere — touched on very briefly at book’s end — regarding their apparent views about the miscarriage of justice in at least the case of Ethel Rosenberg. Perhaps the author deliberately chose not to veer into this related subject, which to this day is fraught with the weight of emotions, perceptions, and political viewpoints, and which has launched what Robert Lamphere called “a propaganda career that's still going on that there is something wrong with the prosecution and sentencing of the Rosenbergs to death.” My point here is to state nothing more than the fact that today there are well-informed views that present reasonable arguments for the imposition of capital punishment on both of the Rosenbergs.

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A Depraved Slice of American History

Revisado: 05-02-20

What an extraordinary story! I am troubled to think that the Teapot Dome scandal — a series of events that are contemporary with this story— occupies a higher profile in my understanding of American history.
I must say also that the producer’s choice to use three distinct narrators was brilliant, and especially Will Patton. Bravo!

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