rapidfire
In Review
No Quarter: The Battle of the Crater, 1864. By
Richard Slotkin. Random House, 2009. $28. ISBN 978- 1-4000-6675-9.
The Battle of the
Crater at Peters-
burg, Va., July 30,
1864, was
Hook, Line, Healing
Medical professionals and volunteers are casting
wide in their efforts to heal wounded warriors. Project Healing Waters Fly Fishing, the brainchild of Capt. Ed Nicholson, USN-Ret., works with 150 VA hospitals and more than 500 volunteers to improve the physical and emotional well-being of injured servicemembers and veterans through fly-fishing. “When wounded warriors get out on the river and
catch a trout, that’s better than any medication,” says Nicholson.
Launched in 2005 in collaboration with Trout Un-
limited and the Federation of Fly Fishers, the program links servicemembers and veterans with hospitals like Walter Reed Army Medical Center, Washington, D.C., and with volunteers who offer fly-fishing lessons. “Nature does its own healing on your heart and
mind,” says Staff Sgt. Brian Mancini, USA. “There’s magic in learning a new skill when you’re disabled.” Project Healing Waters also
helps wounded warriors at- tend expositions, festivals, retreats, and tournaments across the country. For more information or to
volunteer or enroll, visit www
.projecthealingwaters.org.
— Anita Stone
2 2 MI L I T A R Y O F F I C E R MAY 2 0 1 0
a well-intentioned idea that turned into a colos- sal disaster and prolonged the Civil War for another bloody year.
This is a detailed and
vivid account of bril- liant military engineering resulting in the “largest man-made explosion in history” at that time, as the Union army tried to blow up strong Confed- erate fortifi cations and storm the city with a mas- sive infantry assault. Author Richard Slotkin
tells how a sound plan was rendered hopeless by the bickering, jealousy, in- competence, and coward- ice of general offi cers who sent thousands of Union soldiers into an impass- able breach where they were slaughtered by Con- federate artillery, rifl e fi re, and grim bayonet work. Survivors claimed it
was “the most savage, brutal, and merciless struggle they experienced in the entire war,” and
Slotkin relays their gruel- ing story well.
Sealing Their Fate: The Twenty-two Days That Decided World War II. By
David Downing. Da Capo Press, 2009. $27. ISBN 978-0-306- 81620-8.
Acclaimed military histo-
rian David Downing’s dramatic
World War
II history claims the Axis powers actually lost the war in the crucial 22 days from Nov. 17 to Dec. 8, 1941, be- cause of national hubris and bad decision-making.
Downing tells of the di-
plomacy, intelligence, de- cisions, and battles of the Germans’ disastrous fail- ure to crush the Russians and capture Moscow, of Erwin Rommel’s failure to defeat the British in North Africa, and of the Japanese decision to awaken the fury of America by attack- ing Pearl Harbor. These three events are
covered in detail in the 22 day-by-day chapters, de- scribing the vicious winter fi ghting on the Eastern Front, the swirling desert battles in North Africa, and the carefully crafted but hopeless war plans of the Japanese.
— William D. Bushnell
PHOTOS: COURTESY PROJECT HEALING WATERS
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