Rick Beyer

The Ghost Army of World War II I found to be exceptional in numerous ways. Firstly, I am not an aficionado of military history (although it is admittedly difficult to study human history without encountering quite a few wars), but this look at a historical event is fascinating from cover to cover. Secondly, I have found most books written by multiple authors to be of inferior quality in one way or another, but the two authors of Ghost Army have produced an extraordinarily fine read. The show more text, while factual, informative and instructive, is exceedingly well written and leads the reader onward without pause. Yet the text itself is but part of the book's attraction; liberally interspersed with the text are drawings and watercolors produced by the men who created the visual and auditory deceptions for which their unit was created. These drawings communicate the environment which these men found in both France and Germany in 1944 and 1945 more effectively than even the most adroit narrative description could do. Quite a few photographs also augment the text although most are too small to do justice to their subjects and do not come up to the quality of the sketches and water colors.

There is not quite as much material in the book as its 254 pages suggest, for the page margins are quite generous and white space abounds. Still, I found the formatting rather pleasing, and it sets off the illustrations to good effect.

A documentary film on the “ghost army” preceded this book, reversing the usual practice of a book's inspiring a subsequent film. Having never seen the filmed documentary, I cannot compare it with this book; however, the book does remind me of another World War II film, The Monuments Men. While the objectives of the two groups were quite different, both units were similar in that they were comprised of men who were professionals in the art world and were in no way typical combat units, nor did they have traditional military missions. Neither was well understood nor fully supported by other military commanders, the “ghost army,” in fact, being kept secret from allied as well as from opposing forces. The novel and largely unprecedented composition and mission of the “ghost army” (and of the “monuments men”) make their stories of interest even to readers who may usually avoid military-related topics.

I was struck by the concluding section of The Ghost Army of World War II because the authors do not end the history with the end of the war in 1945. While they could not detail post-war information on all 1,100 members of the “ghost army,” they do provide brief biographies of about sixty of those members so that the reader is not left to wonder what these men did after their experience in the war. Why did this section particularly impress me? It parallels my own efforts in documenting the lives of the men who served with my father in the 645th Aero Squadron in France in World War I and which is currently published via the World Wide Web.

Perhaps the fact that the “ghost army” fought against Hitler's troops by creating rather than destroying and by deceiving rather than shooting makes the book a pleasurable read. The Ghost Army of World War II gives the reader an intriguing look into the conceptualization, creation, and operation of a unit comprised largely of men skilled in artistic (both visual and auditory) creation and given a mission that may well have been unique in the conduct of modern warfare. It is a story of inspiration and imagination put to use to help win a war, and it is a story well told and meaningfully illustrated. show less

"The Greatest Science Stories Never Told"
-By Rick Beyer-

"The Greatest Science Stories Never Told" is the latest in a series seeking to bring the minutia of life to light that has been overlooked or consigned to the dustbin of history. In doing so, it mostly succeeds. From the story of President Lincoln's patent (the only president to hold one) for buoying vessels stuck on sandbars to Bette Graham Nesmith, who's horrible typing led her to invent Liquid Paper and thus become a millionaire to a show more selection of absurd patents, such as a turnable for pregnant women to lie on which would spin up to 7 Gs and thus propel the baby out of her body, many interesting scientific achievements are briefly discussed.

However, there in lies my major issue with this book and the series as a whole, the briefness of the entries. The scientific achievements, their pioneers, the events surrounding the invention and the repercussions are only barely touched upon. These entries are only introductions. I know, that that is probably the purpose of the book, but this goal could still be serviced with slightly longer essays. This could best be achieved by having the book be a regulation-sized hardcover book. Each incident could then be allotted 7 or 8 pages, plenty of room for more details, without forcing the book to be appreciably longer. It is not the subject matter that is at issue; in fact I want MORE subject matter.

But, if you are interested in having your appetite whetted for more scientific history and after closing the back cover desire to have the feeling of wanting more, than this book is for you. It treads new ground, but only very lightly. In the back though, there is a selection of source materials for all of the entries, so you will be able to do further research on those subjects that interested you. In short, "The Greatest Science Stories Never Told" is excellent for the casual reader and I found it nice to read a few entries before going to bed. But a serious historian of science or someone who prefers more intimate details, will be left unsatisfied. Though it might find fans among younger students, who for them and their short attention spans, the short essays are a perfect fit. show less

The Ghost Army is a breezy, mostly oral and visual history, of one of the strangest units of World War II. The 23rd Headquarters Special Troops' mission was one of comprehensive deception, using a few hundred men to simulate armored divisions and other heavy units. Using a combination of inflatable 'tanks', giant loudspeakers playing tape of real armored formations, radio units capable of mimicking other formations, and a bottom-up initiative called 'atmosphere', where men would essentially show more LARP as officers from the units they were mimicking, with classic loose lips.

The 23rd pulled off dozens of roadshows with theatrical flare. It's tricky to evaluate their direct military impact, but there were operations that they were a part of, notably the breakout from Normandy and crossing the Rhine, where Nazi defenses were held in front of the deception for vital hours at the beginning of an attack.

Where this book excels is in the literal picture of the men involved. The heart of the 23rd was a lowkey mafia of New York artists and art students, and where other soldiers with downtime would gamble, the 23rd sketched and painted. The art is exceptional, and there's lots of excerpts from sketchbooks. Some of the men of the 23rd went on to great careers in art and design, and their talent shows through.

The authors do a solid job putting together the story, though real history buffs should probably just go right to the primary source with the 23rd's Official History, which is arguably the most entertaining official history in the Army's archives and only recently declassified. With this book and the PBS documentary, Beyer and Sayles have done an admirable job preserving the legacy of one of the oddest and most interesting military units. show less

Fascinating. More about the people - and in their own voices, from contemporary records and recent interviews - than the methods, though there's some discussion of their tools. The sonic and radio aspects of the deception get skimmed over more lightly than the physical ones - I don't know whether that's because some of them might still be useful (and therefore not declassified) or because they're more complex and technical and an in-depth discussion of them didn't fit the book's style. But show more the skimming is barely noticeable while reading, because the focus of the book is on the artists who were part of the various sections that made up the deception unit - many of them came straight from art school to the unit, and when they returned to civilian life many of them became famous artists (in one medium or another - Bill Blass is a big name in fashion, for instance). But many of the artists spent every free minute during their service sketching, painting, and otherwise illustrating their service and the areas where they were stationed, which make for a fascinating record of this unit's service. Few of the pictures chosen for the book illustrate the deception itself, but we get to see the towns they were in just before, and often just after, they'd been attacked; we get to see the soldiers (if you like Bill Mauldin's cartoons, here's some of the same sort of images); and we get to see the people they encountered, both locals (in France, Belgium, and other areas) and refugees in the same locations. It's not a dense book, but I found it very interesting. I suspect it will reward rereading, as well. show less