Lengthy entries on each model are rhe product of intensive research on borh rhe history of rhe model and rhe ship ir represents. Though highly derailed and carefully wrirren, rhe descriptions require rhe derailed photographs ro clarify rhe points being made, while ar rhe same rime perusal of rhe phoros raises many questions, sending readers ro rhe rexr ro find rhe answers. The book wo uld nor be a success wirhour rhe unconventional phorographic techniques of museum sraff member Patrick Dantec, who describes his process in a shorr bur inreresring passage in rhe back. Luckily for rhe English-speaking world, D avid Roberts has rranslared rhis technically challenging rexr (firsr released in French in 1998) into eloquent prose. Boudriot's unexpurgated text lets the reader know exactly what he thinks, not only of the models but also of how they have been handled over the years. H e minces no words to point our an example of "very regrerrable and irreparable damage" rhar he calls "a deplorabl e example of rhe incompetence of rhe people respo nsible for rhe upkeep of rhese models." His language of praise for rhe modelers is equally colorful. There is one significant problem wirh rhis book for which a complaint is justified. After rhe undoubtedly arduous work of rranslarion, ir does nor seem ro be disrribured in rhe US beyond rhe publisher's website. Ir doesn't appear on Amazon .com or Barnesandnoble.com, which rhese days, is a sign of rrue obscurity. The publisher should remedy rhis, because rhis riveting combination of models, phoros, and rexr wo uld be of interest well beyond rhe narrow modeling community, if only ir were available ro rhe greater public. D AN IEL F I NAMORE
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Silent Steel: The Mysterious Death of the Nuclear Attack Sub USS Scorpion by Srephen Johnson (John W iley & Sons, Hoboken, NJ, 2006, biblio , index, phoros, 292pp, I SBN 0-47 1-26737-6; $25.95hc) In rhis popular study of rhe loss of USS Scorp ion on 22 May 22 1968, veteran journalist Stephen Johnson provides a detailed survey of rhe events before and after rhe unexplained loss of rhe SEA HISTORY 115 , SUMMER 2006
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