War Shots: Norm Hatch and the U.S. Marine Corps Combat Cameramen of World War II Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)I have known of the great work of Norm Hatch for many years. He was the right man in the right place at the right time...and he still is. I worked most of my USMC career with writers/photographers and eventually for a "Mr" Norm Hatch (Major, USMCR, Retired) in DoD audio-visual news for about 18 months before retiring for civilian life. I especially admire the way Jones and he handle the great responsibilities explained in the book: with humility despite tremendous responsibility by a then-young, relatively inexperienced sergeant in his first combat. Strongly recommend this great book to everyone who appreciates American History.

Click Here to see more reviews about: War Shots: Norm Hatch and the U.S. Marine Corps Combat Cameramen of World War II

* Story of how military photographers got their shots while storming beaches and assaulting pillboxes with combat troops * Hatch filmed With the Marines at Tarawa, which won the 1944 Academy Award for Best Documentary Short Subject * New details on the controversy surrounding the famous photo of the flag raising on Iwo Jima * Hatch was Person of the Week on ABC World News with Diane Sawyer in March 2010 * For fans of Flags of Our Fathers, Letters from Iwo Jima, and HBO's The Pacific

Get 29% OFF

Click here for more information about War Shots: Norm Hatch and the U.S. Marine Corps Combat Cameramen of World War II

Read More...

Men of World War II: Fighting Men at Ease Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)Author Evan Bachner returns two years later with a follow-up to his first book, "At Ease". If you thoroughly enjoyed his first book, as I did, you wont be disappointed. Filled with over 150 photos of sailors and soldiers looking quite peaceful,even though a war raged around them. Being a Navy veteran, I couldn't help but notice how familiar some of these images seem. A perfect companion to the first book.

Click Here to see more reviews about: Men of World War II: Fighting Men at Ease

The long awaited follow up to the original At Ease presents 160 new, never before published photographs of WWII Navy men. These photos are not the combat photography we're so accustomed to seeing; here are disarmingly winsome and playful pictures of sailors and soldiers at leisure, displaying an innocent affection for each other that is practically unthinkable today. This was a time when men had no reservations about showing their devotion to their comrades through physical contact, and the included photographs are truly snapshots of a lost era. This volume includes photos from the National Archives by Edward J. Steichen, Wayne Miller, Horace Bristol, Victor Jorgensen, Barrett Gallagher, and many others.

Get 39% OFF

Click here for more information about Men of World War II: Fighting Men at Ease

Read More...

Steichen at War: The Navy's Pacific Air Battles Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)Edward Steichen virtually created the world of high fashion and advertising photography, but his military coverage of two World Wars was equally remarkable. He received the Croix de Guerre for pioneering photoreconnaissance as part of Pershing's American Expeditionary Force in 1918, and his team's shots of the American Navy's advance across the Pacific from 1942 to 1945 form the visual core of our memory of that crucial period. Tragically, however, Steichen's thousands of incisive images of military action were dissolved into the morass of the National Archives, and attempts to retrieve specific subjects of his are often as effective as trying to taste fine brandy after pouring it into a swimming pool.
Hence the value of retrospectives such as Christopher Phillips' hefty book on Steichen's coverage of the U.S. Navy in the Pacific War. Combining skillfully chosen anecdotes from Steichen's life with vivid evocation of the pioneering photographer's joy in capturing memorable images, Phillips gives us not only an unforgettable slice of Steichen's work but also enough historical background to let readers sense the excitement and drama of a nation's best young warriors fighting for freedom's sake. Lieutenant Commander Steichen's parade of images didn't begin until after the pivotal Battle of Midway in June 1942, but the ensuing carrier warfare and savage island fighting appear in unforgettable clarity. As in all great photographs, the humanity of the subjects shines through amid their triumph, or pain, or mere existence. Students of both military history and photography can spend days poring over these astonishingly revealing images.

Click Here to see more reviews about: Steichen at War: The Navy's Pacific Air Battles

Click here for more information about Steichen at War: The Navy's Pacific Air Battles

Read More...

The Brooklyn Navy Yard Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)I wanted a book about the Brooklyn Navy yard because from 1970 to 1971, my destroyer was berthed there. The yard was closed. We were the only floating Navy in NYC. We'd roam the yard, gaining access to buildings we really shouldn't have been in. We'd search the rooms under the building ways where Missouri, Iowa, and many other historic ships were constructed. We'd go to garden parties at the Admiral's Quarters. We'd drink at John's BOQ Bar. I had hoped to see a lot more of the history of the yard in this book. Other reviews made me think I would. I was disappointed. The pictures are beautiful, but all were taken after we left. There is nothing that really ties the bulk of the photos to the history of the yard. If you want pretty pictures, buy this book. If you want history, look elsewhere.

Click Here to see more reviews about: The Brooklyn Navy Yard

New York City's largest and oldest industrial facility, the historic Brooklyn Navy Yard occupies 250-acres on the East River between the Williamsburg and Manhattan Bridges, and is presently one of New York City's major industrial sites. One of the last remnants of Brooklyn's industrial supremacy, the Yard has experienced tremendous change: functioning from the age of wind to that of diesel. As a cradle of naval evolution, the Yard has had to reinvent itself constantly, and this is made evident by the presence of buildings and structures spanning from the 1830s to the 1950s. The Navy Yard was shut down in 1966 and reopened again in 1971 when the City of New York bought it with the intention of redevelopment. Great ships are still repaired there, and the Yard, now an industrial park with a variety of manufacturers and light industries, functions as a refuge from a city that has mostly forgotten that a mixed economy is a key to its survival. The Brooklyn Navy Yard, the first monograph by John Bartelstone, offers a quiet and striking look at the Yard as a time capsule of industrial New York. The Yard today is a fusion of the sublime and the practical, with eerie abandoned elements existing side by side with vibrant businesses. Bartelstone's camera is partial to the former. The images show a place out of time, where World War II New York is still palpable. Bartelstone has been photographing the buildings and structures of the Yard since 1994. His photographs are neither a history of the Navy Yard nor a depiction of its role as a modern industrial park; the book instead offers a structured impression of a dreamscape.

Click here for more information about The Brooklyn Navy Yard

Read More...

Anytime, Baby Hail and Farewell to the U.S. Navy F-14 Tomcat Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)I must be getting old. I remember when the F-14 Tomcat was just being designed and adopted by the Navy. Now we are telling them 'Good Bye.'
The F-14 entered service with the Navy in 1972. It was retired from the U.S. Navy fleet on 22 September 2006, having been replaced by the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet. As of 2007, only the Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force still flies the aircraft. Where did those 34 years go?
This book is a memorial to the Tomcat. It's a photographic essay of the last seven squadrons (down from over thirty) to fly the big bird. The photography is beautiful, mostly in the air, but quite a few on the deck of the big ships, and a couple very sadly showing the old birds sitting out in the field, stripped of unit ID, stripped of their soul.
It's a beautiful book, and an excellent tribute to the men and their very beautiful, very high performance machines.

Click Here to see more reviews about: Anytime, Baby Hail and Farewell to the U.S. Navy F-14 Tomcat

For the past two years, while the sun was setting on the iconic F-14 Tomcat, aviation photographer and author Erik Hildebrandt has been capturing the final defining moments of the few remaining F-14 squadrons in the US Navy Fighter community. Anytime, Baby! is an unforgettable collection of final-phase Tomcat milestones captured and preserved forever in some of the most detailed and dynamic photographic compositions Hildebrandt has ever attempted. From riding along with VF-211, the last squadron to ever fly the F-14A, to flying with VF-32 on the last deployment of the F-14B in the Arabian Gulf in 2005, Hildebrandt has been witness to the end of an era. Anytime, Baby! is an important historic record as much as it is an artistic and beautiful tribute to the most popular American fighter in history. A true "must-have" addition for the aviation enthusiasts as well as former and current Navy and Marine Corp service personnel.

Get 28% OFF

Click here for more information about Anytime, Baby Hail and Farewell to the U.S. Navy F-14 Tomcat

Read More...

At Ease: Navy Men of World War II Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)Without a doubt this book will touch the memories and hearts of everyone who pauses to slowly peruse these casual photographs of men at sea in World War II. Without the overtones of trying to make a statement about the camaraderie that accompanies men off at war, these photographs simply follow a healthy group of sailors resting on board ship, working at their tasks, bonding in the bunk rooms and in play on the decks and the foc'sle. There is an obvious physical relationship that is transmitted in the gentlest ways, further proof that men together find the emotional and physical support so needed in the time of isolation from the world.
It is to Evan Bachner's credit that he shares this truly sensitive body of work with the public at a time when we all need to understand not only the plight of the men away at war today, but of the common threads of pansexuality that have never been a threat but only a solace in a world infected with prejudice. Grady Harp, December 2004


Click Here to see more reviews about: At Ease: Navy Men of World War II

Get 36% OFF

Click here for more information about At Ease: Navy Men of World War II

Read More...