REVIEWS M ILITARY ORAL HISTORY BOOKS By LCDR L. Peter Wren USNR (ret) "We Were Th ere" Read firsthand lhe unto ld stories of the USS Indianapolis tragedy by "rescuers, survivors and others" who speak on these pages.
"World Wa r II Re visited "
A co llect ion of fi rst hand report from "POW's" and "Gl's." Within these pages the patriots speak on "freedom" won. "Battle Born "
The unsinkab le USS Nevada , escaped fro m the Pearl Harbor attack to fire the opening shots at Normandy and Southern France . With rep laced main batteries continued to
battle at IWO JlMA and OKJNAWA. Later withstood two Atomic Bomb tests while ships anchored around her sank. Ora l histories are co-authored by a crew member.
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causes the book to fall in to the category of a research tool rather man a pleasant read; every ship, most of th e m as ters (both civilian and navy), every convoy, both outbound and in, and every German surface ship and submarine (as well as their mas ters and admirals) that went after the co nvoys are listed, not in the fo rm of an appendix, but in the body of m e text. This level of detail makes the book repetitive, and in m any cases, stupefyingly tedious to read. The similarity of m an y of the convoys causes som e degree of confusion regarding exactl y which convoy is under discussion. The autho r employs passive voice more often than not, which, after only a few pages, makes the reader think of it more as "gove rnment-speak" than an info rmative text on a very impo rtant and m ajor aspect of WWII. Woodman tells two very exciting and important stories: the tragedy of convoy PQ17 chat, th ro ugh a m ajor admiral ty blunder, lost half of its ships and men; and the British victory over the German battleship Scharnhorst off the No rth Cape. His descriptions of the constant darkness (the convoys ran mostly in the winter to preclude visual spotting by m e Germans), the ever-present sto rms, and th e incredible cold are vivid and thought-provoking. Even these get repetiti ve, however, as the area of the wo rld where these convoys sailed is always like that. As a reference source for anyo ne seeking this informati on, Arctic Convoys 194 11945 is without parallel. It is not a pleasure read but has all the detail one could possibly desire o n the subject. W ILLIAM H. WHITE Bellevue, New Jersey
Nikkei Fishermen on the BC Coast: 1heir B iographies and Photographs edited by
MARITIME
BOOKS 1806 Laurel Crest Madi son, Wi sconsin 53 705-1065 (608) 238-SAIL FAX (608) 238- 7249 Emai I: tuttlemaritime@ cha rter.net http ://tuttlernaritime.com Books about the Sea, Ship & Sailor
Catalogue Upon Request 52
M asako Fukawa (H arbour Publishing Company, Ltd. , 2007, ISBN 978-1-5501 7436-6; $3 9.95) Beginning in 1877, thousands of]ap anese immigrated to British Columbia, m any taking up commercial fishing as their livelihood. Generations ofJapanese, or "Nikkei," fisher families created a stro ng culture and industry along the coast, only to be forced into wo rk camps during WWII. They lost their boats, their ho mes, and many families were separated . Their bonds and culture survived the o rdeal, however, and many re-
turned to the coast after the war to rebuild their lives through the o nly livelihood and way of life they had ever known- fishing. At the close of the last century, comm ercial fi shing in this region was in decline and so was the collective memory of the people and culture fi shing had supported. A group of fo rward-thinking Ni kkei o rganized a reunion from which th is book was born. The N ikkei Fishermen Reunion Co mmittee took on the huge tas k of collecti ng the nam es, data, and stori es of more than 3,500 fishermen . Nikkei Fishermen on the BC Coast is more a reference book than a biographical story or any kind of narrative. With a listing of 3 ,524 nam es and 750 biographies and photographs, it serves as an invaluable tool for anyone studying the culture and histo ry of the region . It serves as an irreplaceable reco rd of the people and wo rk so impo rtant to the make-up of the history of British Columbia and an impressive model of what people can do to preserve their own stories before the individuals who know them h ave passed on. DEIRD RE O ' R.EGAN
Cape C od, Massachusetts
Shipwreck Archaeology in Australia edited by Michael Nash (University of Western Australia Press, C rawley, Western Australia, 2007, 224pp, illus, notes, biblio, index, ISBN 978-0-9802964-3-3; $40hc) Australia is a leader in the scientific study of shipw recks and other types of submerged cultural sites and in the protection and m anagement of these sites for the public benefit. In this book, Michael Nash and a dozen eminent archaeologists present the ground-breaking research performed on fourteen Austral ian shipwrecks. The volu me is divided in to fiftee n chapters dedicated to individual sites and is logically arranged by date, ranging from the Dutch East India C ompany ship Batavia, wrecked in 1629, to the steam er Tasman, wrecked in 1883 . The ending chapter describes the ships' graveyard of Garden Island as an example of the final disposition of abando ned, rather than wrecked, historic vessels. Its introduction explains the development of nautical archaeology in Australia since the 1970s, including the role of legislatio n to protect underwa ter heritage sites and current approaches to research , managem ent, and public involvement. Each chapter presents SEA HISTORY 123 , SUMMER 2008