Don Congdon (1918–2009)

Although this is a history of events, it's a personal history, with the various sections being individuals describing what happened since they were actually there and participating in the events. The personal involvement always makes things more interesting.
Anthology of true war stories that adds many new or rare aspects of a many faceted war. It starts with a fascinating first hand account of the sinking of the Repulse and the Prince of Wales at the start of the war and finishes with first hand accounts of the nuclear bombs. In between are stories of coast watchers, Marine beach stormers, Wake island defenders, and Japanese jungle hunters. High action stories on land, air and sea.

The book includes the following entries: Tragedy in the China Sea; The Fall of Singapore; Bamboo Doctor; Wake Island Command; Ferdinand on Hollandia; Raid on Singapore; Action at the Pigpen; The Caves of Biak; Raid on Balikpapan; Coral Comes High; The Northern Front in Burma; Blackpool Block; Okinawa; The Gallant Fight of the Radar Pickets; Abandon Ship; The Great White Light.… (more)

The Thirties is a wonderful anthology of short essays about the 1930's, mostly magazine articles and book excerpts written between 1930 and 1960 by many well known authors, including Steinbeck and Arthur Schlesinger. It covers a broad slice of life including politics, crime, natural and man-made disasters, new technologies, books, music etc.. the editor, Don Congdon, has written a number of excellent introductions to each section. When the anthology was published in 1962 it was only about 22 years since the 1930s had ended, about as close to their time as 1989 is to our own, so the target audience was probably the middle aged and senior citizen - today, for most of us, the thirties are ancient history so this "old" anthology is even more interesting as a barometer of the zeitgeist of the time, an early attempt at deciding what was important by the people who had recently lived through it. This is a long (generous) anthology so I will list here the pieces that I think are essential. There are really no bad pieces, but a few are just knock-out interesting and well written.

"The Texas Babe" (Paul Gallico, Vanity Fair 1932), a profile of the greatest woman athlete of the 20th century, Mildred "Babe" Didrikson. This particular piece has since been rejected by some revisionist historians as being misogynistic, but within the context of the time, it's an excellent profile that goes to the heart of her make-up and why she was so important.

"The Akron and the Three Who Came Back" (John Toland, Ships in the Sky 1957). An edge of seat reconstruction of the Akron blimp disaster off the Jersey coast. I'd never heard of this before but it is a gruesome and compelling story, easily could be a movie.

"Hitchhiker" (Eric Sevareid, Not So Wild a Dream 1946). Excerpt from his book which has never gone out of print, I plan on reading it soon. Tells of his travels around the world as a young man, this piece about hoboing on trains. Beautiful literary style and great adventure.

"Scottsboro Boys" (Allan Chalmers, They Shall Be Free 1951). A year by year summary of major events in the Scottsboro Case, wherein a couple young southern black boys were falsely convicted of raping white women by an all white jury and sentenced to death. This was constantly in the news for most of the 1930s, an excellent and readable summation of this important marker in American black history.

"Dillinger" (Alan Hynd, True Magazine, 1956). A re-telling of John Dillinger's life of crime. He was a sort of Robbin Hood folk-hero. This is a gripping piece as good as any novel. See also the 1945 movie.

"The Almost Assassination of Thomas E. Dewey" (Burton Turkus and Sid Feder, Murder, Inc. 1951). Another gripping true-crime story, this time with a twist ending. Provides insight into the New York mobster scene and what it was like to be a hit-man.

"Pity the poor Giant" (Paul Gallico, Farewell to Sport 1938). Another sports piece by Gallico (of The Poseidon Adventure fame). The sad story of Primo Carnera, an Italian giant of a man who became the world champion boxer, only to be used up and left out to dry by his corrupt handlers. Fascinating story well told with a novelists flare.

"The Men from Mars" (John Houseman, Harper's Magazine 1948). A fascinating inside account of Orson Welles' famous 40-minute radio-play The War of the Worlds that caused mass hysteria around the country. Explains the series of unintended accidents that caused it to be so widely believed by so many.

--Review by Stephen Balbach, via CoolReading (c) 2008 cc-by-nd… (more)