I opened the cover of this tome with eager anticipation—to read and view another of Caniff’s boffo comic-strip stories about the rousing adventures of the heroic Lieutenant Colonel Steven B. Canyon, USAF. Alas! I was disappointed. I found that Caniff’s stories in this volume had plots that are incongruous to the Steve Canyon mystic, and […]
Author Archives: smartinshelton
Malaysia Flight 370 Post #17
The Australian government, in concert with Malaysia and China, announced on 4 June last that unless they find an identifiable artifact from the missing Boeing 777 aircraft, Malaysia Flight 370 now missing for fifteen-months, the search would terminate sometime mid-next year. An international team of scientists using available information calculated that Flight 777 crash landed […]
BOOK REVIEW: Prelude to the First World War, the Balkan Wars 1912-1913 by E. R. Hooton
Hooton explores the complexities of the two Balkan Wars with a surgical analysis–two important, little known, wars that were the prelude to the Great War in 1914. He earns a sincere congratulation for his in depth research. His statistics are overwhelming–so overwhelming that the reader is inundated with details that after a time becloud the […]
BOOK REVIEW: A War of Frontier and Empire: The Philippine-American War, 1899-1902 by David J. Silbey
Silbey tells an intriguing and detailed tale of one of America’s little known and critically important conflicts that led to our acquisition of Guam, The Philippines, and Puerto Rico and other islands in the Caribbean. His writing style is engaging and engenders empathy for the aficionado. We easily follow the campaign through the mountains and […]
BOOK REVIEW: I Could Never Be So Lucky Again by Lieutenant General James H. “Jimmy” Doolittle, US Army Air Corps, (ret.)
I Could Never Be So Lucky Again is the autobiography of one of the United States’ great heroes: Lieutenant General James (Jimmy) H. Doolittle—aviation pioneer, and Doctor of Science in Aeronautical Engineering from the Massachusetts of Technology. After the First World War, he became one of America’s top racing aviators. He won the Schneider Marine Cup, […]
The Doolittle Raid
Today is the 73rd anniversary of the Doolittle Raid on Tokyo and five other Japanese cities—one of the most audacious, brilliant, and important actions of World War II. Background. In a surprise maneuver, aircraft from the Japanese Imperial Navy attacked Pearl Harbor on Sunday, 7 December 1941 that destroyed the our Navy’s battle fleet. Fortunately, […]
Malaysia Flight 370 One Year Ago
Malaysia Flight 370, a Boeing model 777-200 ER (Extended Range) disappeared 1 year and 45 days ago—one of aviation’s biggest mysteries. Notwithstanding extensive searching by temas from Malaysia, China, and Australia in the Indian Ocean off the coast of western Australia, not a trace of this aircraft has been found. In a Press Release, dated […]
Film Review: The Woman in Gold
Details. Released April 2015. Orion Pictures. Actors: Helen Mirren, Ryan Reynolds, Donald Bruke, Kate Holmes, Mana Altman. Director, Simon Curtis. Writers: Alexi Kaye Campbell. Background. During the Anschluss of 1938, Nazi Germany overthrew the government of Austria. Following, the Austrian and German Nazis looted Jewish possessions: art, jewelry, furs, and silver, anything of value. Synopsis. […]
BOOK REVIEW: The Spanish Civil War by Gabriele Ranzato
Ranzato presents us with a pocketsize, summary of the political machinations of the various fighting-factions during the 1936 to 1939 Spanish Civil War. In large measure, he skips the military campaign. Permeating the conflict was the chaos of vacillating loyalties, conflicting interests of the various factions, and the telling influence of the military involvement of […]
BOOK REVIEW: Boys in the Trees by Carly Simon
One star I seriously regret that I’ve read this autobiography of the fabulous Carly Simon. She is one of my favorite female singers. Her album “Moonlight Serenade” is the choice CD in my collection. That CD includes some of my all-time favorite Tin Pan Alley tunes— “Moonlight Serenade,” “Moonglow,” and “Where or When”. On her […]