In 1938; the United States abandoned the constraints imposed by the Washington Treaty and began work on a new class of super-battleships. This book covers the design; construction; and employment of the four Iowa-class battleships; the largest in the American fleet. During World War II; they served as guards for the aircraft carriers and their bombardments provided cover for the numerous landings in the Pacific. At the war's end; the Japanese signed their surrender on the decks of an Iowa-class battleship; the USS Missouri. After World War II; the ships continued to serve; providing support during Korea; Vietnam; and even the first Gulf War. This book tells the full story of the greatest of the American battleships.
#1223562 in Books I. B. Tauris 2009-03-15 2009-03-31Original language:EnglishPDF # 1 8.58 x .89 x 5.49l; .85 #File Name: 1845119819304 pages
Review
10 of 10 people found the following review helpful. Worth consideringBy Kirk H SowellAbbas Amanat's "Apocalyptic Islam and Iranian Shi'ism" is worth buying if you have a strong interest in Iranian apocalyptic or Islamic apocalyptic more broadly; as there aren't many books out there which provide significant background on the issue. I might also recommend it for those who simply have a strong interest in Iranian history; as this book covers some aspects of it otherwise brushed over.I would not recommend it for anyone looking for an interesting or coherent book to read on Iran or Shia Islam. I found the chapters to vary in quality; some are quite good; others I'm not so sure. As Amanat explains in his preface; the articles were written for various purposes over 20 years; so part of the lack of coherence is inherent. Several of the articles also reflect an unfortunate tendency among some academics to present a subject matter through their own ideological lenses. The chapters dealing with contemporary Iran focus too much on explaining Iranian apocalyptic politics as a secularist liberal from Yale would view the subject; which undermines the author's credibility. There are also several digressions to criticize U.S. foreign policy which bear no relevance to the subject matter.The best chapters; I thought; were these: chapter two on "The Resurgence of Apocalyptic in Modern Islam" (a broad survey); chapter three on the Nuqtavi movement; chapter four on "Meadow of the Martyrs" (dealing with a seminal piece of Shia literature from the Timurid period) and chapter five on the Babi movement. I also thought chapters seven and eight were useful for tracing the historical development of Shia clerical authority; although this material is not specific to apocalyptic issues and is well covered in other texts. I suggest Litvak's "Shi'i Scholars in 19th Century Iraq" and Nakash's "The Shi'is of Iraq" in this regard (you may want to see my reviews on those).0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. GreatBy zachFascinating collection of articles0 of 2 people found the following review helpful. Not Easy Book to ReadBy M. H. FarzinThe information content of the book is good; but reading was a real problem. Not an easy reading at all. I finally did finish reading it all; but it took many days; and reading each page several times to follow-up what Mr. Amanat is trying to say.I have heard Mr. Amanat on VOA TV; and he comes across very understandable and informed when he is speaking Farsi; but this book (in English) has not been written for an average; or even above average; person.
