Drawing on countless interviews (marked by astonishing frankness); on diaries; journals; and letters; on events he himself witnessed; and weaving it all into the context of history; Coleman introduces us to a fascinating cast of characters: an alderman who revives a chapter of the Black Panthers and threatens guerilla warfare if certain demands are not met ... a sixties revolutionary who becomes school superintendent ... a white woman who insists she has "earned" her racism ... another who becomes painfully aware of the "privileges" she has just because she is white ... a black family determined that gangs not force them out of their neighborhood ... a Rotarian who wonders why; given everybody's "good intentions; " things are still the way they are. By looking at America through the window of Milwaukee; Coleman's journey through the minefield of race becomes our journey. His book is a marvelously constructed tapestry whose power is cumulative; yet one that allows us to look unflinchingly at each individual strand of race in the 1990s - from the ongoing changes in welfare and affirmative action to the successes and failures of integration; from the appointment of Clarence Thomas and the Los Angeles riots to O. J. Simpson and the Million Man March; from life in the ghetto to the lives of those who have escaped it and now exist uneasily in the mainstream; from the bitterness of white conservatives - and the rise of black onesto the disillusionment of white liberals; and many others....
#1624780 in Books Naval Institute Press 1987-06Original language:EnglishPDF # 1 11.00 x 8.00 x .75l; #File Name: 0870219952176 pages
Review
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful. One Place to See Comparisons Between Great WW II PlanesBy CustomerSeriously; the military might ask for proposals to meet certain criteria; and the manufacturers meet most of them; yet each required handling tests; lists made of deficiencies; and the prototypes sent to the shop for changes before testing again. Someone must identify problems before low-time pilots killed themselves in accidents. This was Brown's assignment during most of his career. He flew everything from Swordfish to Seafire.And while Brown had already flown the F4U-1 (bounced hard during arrested landings); he suffered a return visit to the ground-attack version AU-1 in 1951. Among other changes; it had a:'...Double Wasp with a sea level combat rating of 2;800 hp; a lot more armour in the cockpit and engine sections and a built-in armament of four 20-mm Mk 6 cannon with 231 rpg; the AU-1 had taken on a lot of weight by comparison...Understandably; performance had suffered... the handling of the AU-1 that served to heighten my distaste for the Corsair; however; for if its ancestor had proffered some unendearing characteristics; they had been multiplied in the descendant. The AU-1 had developed some highly undesirable directional stability and control characteristics; such as requiring almost full right rudder on a deck-landing approach; thus rendering baulked landing [wave-off] the most hazardous of operations. It also displayed a directional oscillation in diving with external stores; thus setting up wing rocking and seriously affecting the aiming accuracy...'Early on; during the review of F4F Wildcat; he tells of his first wartime cruise; and how he caught; then shot down two of the hated German Fw 200 Condor patrol planes. He expresses his love for the performance and guns of the stubby little Grumman. Eventually; he renews his friendship in the course of tests.Since Brown was closely associated with testing of British and U.S. built aircraft and ran the carrier trials; he could like the landing qualities; but discover faults in combat maneuvers- and sometimes; the manufacturer could not improve the design. Regarding the Blackburn Firebrand:' ...in the final analysis; this welterweight of a single-seat shipboard torpedo-fighter was a failure. It was never a pilot's aircraft-- how could it be when he sat nearer the tail than the nose; as a deck-landing aeroplane it was a disaster and it was incapable of fulfilling competently either the role of torpedo-bomber or that of fighter; but it was built like a battleship-- and there were to be those that would say that it flew like one!'He goes on to note that British design between wars became so conservative that it could not field a decent fighter and had to use American designs (F4F; F4U; F6F) on their carriers.If you want to find out how to start one of these sixteen different planes; or how English carriers catapulted airplanes; you must buy this book. Regardless; there are photos here of diverse paint jobs; optional equipment and external weapons that would make great models.See also: Wings of the Luftwaffe: Flying the Captured German Aircraft of World War II.0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. Five StarsBy rafEssential Eric Brown reading0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. Fascinating point of view from a unique WWII aviator.By NacreousHe was British; so his "outsider" perspective on American aircraft is particularly interesting.
