The first volume of Clay Blair's magisterial; highly praised narrative history of the German submarine war against Allied shipping in World War II; The Hunters; 1939-1942; described the Battle of the Atlantic waged first against the British Empire and then against the Americas. This second and concluding volume; The Hunted; 1942-1945; covers the period when the fortunes of the German Navy were completely reversed; and it suffered perhaps the most devastating defeat of any of the German forces. In unprecedented detail and drawing on sources never used before; Clay Blair continues the dramatic and authoritative story of the failures and fortunes of the German U-boat campaign against the United States and Great Britain. All the major patrols and sorties made by the Germans are described in detail and with considerable human interest: the Peleus and Laconia affairs; the capture at sea of U-505; the crisis of German command; the futile operations against the Americas; and the mounting and devastating losses that; in effect; entirely destroyed the German submarine service.Amid the riveting accounts of battles at sea in Volume I; military historian Blair; who served on an American submarine in the Pacific against Japan; postulates that the German U-boat peril in the Atlantic has been "vastly overblown" in previously published histories and memoirs of that naval struggle; as well as in films. As a consequence; Blair writes; a false mythology about the effectiveness of U-boats has taken root; and in order to clearly and fully understand World War II; one must put the U-boat threat into proper perspective. Although neither volume is intended to be "technical" in nature; Blair does not neglect the scientific developments of the U-boat war. These include radar and radar detectors; active and passive sonar; Axis encoding machines and exotic Allied decoding machines; high-frequency direction finding (Huff Duff); Hedgehogs; depth charges; and sophisticated U-boat torpedoes. He describes how these devices worked and how they influenced the course of the naval battle.The remarkable story of Hitler's U-Boat War has been one of the last World War II subjects without a conclusive treatment. Now; thanks to Clay Blair; this has been brilliantly remedied.
#531907 in Books 1994-01-01Original language:EnglishPDF # 1 9.25 x 1.24 x 6.00l; 1.58 #File Name: 0674951298488 pagesISBN13: 9780674951297Condition: NewNotes: BRAND NEW FROM PUBLISHER! 100% Satisfaction Guarantee. Tracking provided on most orders. Buy with Confidence! Millions of books sold!
Review
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful. A good intro into prophecy belief in the USBy Matthew SmithThis book is a good look into prophecy belief in the U.S. This book reads like a history of these movements; and in doing so shows the reader how this belief has influenced and grown over time. The author discusses the leaders of these movements as well as some of the celebrities within the movements that exert so much influence over millions of people. Mr. Boyer has obviously done extensive research combing through hundreds of books and archives to resource this history; and the research is certainly evident in this book. The author knows his subject very well which comes through on each page.Mr. Boyer also discusses the different strands of prophecy belief such as the passive and activist branches. The activist branches being those who actively seek to help bring about the end times by helping to fulfill percieved prophecies in order to bring about god's rapture as soon as possible as opposed to the passive branch that believes that people cannot affect god's plan and that the end is preordained by god and there is nothing that can change that plan. Both sides of this movement are well represented here and thoroughly discussed in an historical context; but this is the problem with the work also.This book begs for a deeper look into the prophecy movements. Throughout the entire work I felt it needed something more like a psychological or sociological approach to go with the historical rendering. The book simply scratches the surface and leaves the reader wanting these deeper looks into the leaders and the millions of people who follow end time prophecies.Another problem with the book is that the author tends to use the same sources over and over again. This means his chapter breaks do not really break anything at all. The book simply reads as one single strand which makes the breaks irrelevant and makes the reading tedious. The same authors and preaches are constantly quoted over and over again in each chapter which leaves no natural breaks in the reading.To finish; I think this is a good starter to get any reader into this topic; but it is not a definitive work. This book leaves the reader wanting a deeper look into these movements. The reason I don't take off for this is the author is up front from the beginning that his book is not that deeper look. His is an historical look at this movement which leaves the deeper studies to others. I do give this work a high mark even with the problems it has because the book does deserve to be read. I recommend this book but with reservations.1 of 1 people found the following review helpful. Great BookBy marshallI would highly recommend this book for anyone who studies end time prophecy. Especially if you are of the Dispensational mindset. This book lays out and documents how people have always found "signs of the end times" in world event for centuries and how those signs always seem to change with the culture and worldview of the time. After reading this book; you will begin to see how people have been misinterpreting Bible prophecy for a long time.0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. History of apocalyptic movementsBy Nori MusterA history of all the apocalyptic movements throughout history; going back to the time of Jesus. In a time when we are surrounded by people who think this is the end of the world; this book is relevant. It is comforting to realize that fundamentalists have thought it was the end of the world about thirty times before this most recent wave.
