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At War with the Wind:
The Epic Struggle with
Japan’s Suicide Bombers
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Such Men as These:
The Story of the Navy Pilots who Flew
the Deadly Skies Over Korea |
The Last Epic Naval
Battle:
Voices From Leyte Gulf |
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Naval history books--fast paced narratives
enriched by authoritative research and rich with compelling human stories
from people who "made history"--are the centerpieces of D.L.Sears Books.
David Sears, a former U.S. Navy officer and seagoing veteran who
blends compelling narrative with real-life understanding of ships and
sailors. As one reviewer aptly put it, he communicates naval and historical
events at the “deck, sea and cockpit level.”
With two books in print, a third scheduled
for publication in May 2010 and currently writing a fourth,
David is making a mark as an authentic voice in contemporary
military history
Photos and other information concerning the
ships, aircraft, sailors and airmen who are the heroes of these books can
be found in this site's
Image Galleries and
Log Book newsletter
Personally inscribed and autographed copies
hardcover and softcover editions of David Sears' books are available from
D.L.Sears Books Store. |
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Such Men as These:
The Navy Pilots Who Flew the
Deadly Skies Over Korea
(Top) |
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James Michener wrote The
Bridges at Toko-Ri based on his observation of naval aviation
operations during the Korean War. Michener, already a noted war
correspondent and Pulitzer Prize-winning author, went aboard the carrier
USS Essex (CV-9) and USS Valley Forge (CV-45) in late 1951 to write essays
and short stories, including "The Forgotten Heroes of Korea", "An Epic in
Failure" and "All for One".
These stories became the basis of
The Bridges at Toko-Ri. The novel first appeared in a July 1953
edition of Life magazine, then in book form and finally, in 1955, as a
movie starring William Holden, Grace Kelly and Mickey Rooney In the
closing pages of The Bridges at Toko-Ri, George Tarrant, a gruff carrier
task group admiral, marveling at the heroic and selfless efforts of his
aviators and sailors asks: “Where did we get such men?” |
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Such Men as These, by
portraying the real life heroes and exploits that inspired Michener, answers that question.
Such Men as These is scheduled for
publication in May 2010 by Da Capo Press, a subsidiary of Perseus Books
Such Men as These will include an appendix
called Roll Call intended to honor U.S. Navy veterans (aviators, airmen,
officers and sailors), living and deceased, who served in squadrons and
aboard ships deployed for service off Korea during the period of the
conflict (June 1950 to September 1953). Roll Call will list the
names of these veterans, by ship and squadron.
Draft versions of these appendices are
viewable on line (in Adobe PDF format) The links:
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At War with
the Wind: The Epic Struggle with Japan’s World War II Suicide
Bombers
(Top) |
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At War with the Wind
recounts the U.S. Navy’s fierce defense against a baffling and horrifying
new weapon—the Japanese air- and sea borne suicide attackers: the
kamikazes. In the final days of World War II, ‘body crashing’ became
Japan’s last ditch strategy to hold off the onslaught of America’s war
machine on Japan’s home islands. So close to the end of war and a safe
return home, young sailors daily faced off against an alien yet very
personal specter of death.
Now in its second hardcover printing,
At War With the Wind was honored as a
main selection of the
Military Book Club
(read
full review) and a featured alternate selection for the
History Book Club.
The book has received wide editorial praise from
Kirkus Reviews
and
America in WW II
Magazine (February 2009). The softcover edition of At War with the Wind
is set for publication in October 2009. |
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Often overshadowed by other Pacific War
engagements such as Midway or Guadalcanal, the Battle of Leyte Gulf
was characterized by some of the most gallant hours in seagoing history:
the U.S. Navy's defeat of the combined Japanese fleet during the invasion
of the Philippines in October 1944. Involving more ships than even the
gargantuan First World War Battle of Jutland and two hundred thousand men,
it was the biggest naval battle in world history. It was the last time that huge capital ships fought
within sight and sound of each other. Using the personal accounts of the
men who were there, Sears tells this mammoth and compelling story.
The Battle of Leyte Gulf could have been the
Pacific War's Battle of the Bulge. In a space of twelve hours, Japan, a
beaten, cornered enemy, was able to devise and execute a strategy that
very nearly pierced the heart of America's war machine. The real margin of
victory would come from surprising quarters: from aging ships risen from
the graveyard of the war's infamous first day; from small, hastily
constructed ships with largely untested reserve crews; from fragile
support ships never intended to be anywhere near battles of this scale;
and from combat aircraft piloted by teenagers.
At War with the Wind
was first published by Praeger in 2005.
A softcover edition was published by Caliber in 2007. |
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