Gents;
I had the opportunity to review this book when it was first published. As someone who went off from high school to the Coast Guard Academy and has spent most of his adult life researching various topics of World War II history, I was anxious to read a book on the history of my own service in WWII.
Unfortunately, this book is, arguably, the worse written book it has ever been my misfortune to read. The author did not follow any chronological path through the war, but rather and obtuse path wherein he covers certain ships and events … multiple times.
In fact, he covers small aspects of one event in five different sections of the text, separated by tens of pages. As far as I was able to determine, all the author ever did was compile a relatively complete set of Coast Guard "history" blurbs generated by the service historical/publicity office and put them together in an unorganized (in any way I could determine anyway) book. It also includes inaccurate factual information on the services various cutters which I found intensely irritating.
Anyway, in my opinion, this book is not worth the price of the paper and ink it took to print it. Unfortunately, the USCG never did a good history of their service in WWII. However, there is an end of the War Publication "The United States Coast Guard in WW II" that, while hardly scholarly, is way better than this piece of drivel.
So, be forewarned if you decide to get a copy in any format.
Marl E. Horan
