Being there . . . . for three surprisingly superb Spring reads from one of America’s five nonpareil
military publishers, the McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers. Except for war buffs who
demand more and better “instant contact” with the subject of interest for the higher price they
are paying for it today, few give a good darn who is publishing what. Consequently, Casemate,
Osprey, Naval Institute, and Schiffer rarely receive the appreciating recognition they so aptly
deserve. For instance, McFarland, adheres to the wise admonition of brother Dr. Otto
Bettmann, “A good photograph (and book) should make ‘instant contact’. By 1971, his
Bettmann Archives housed over two million historic photographs and graphics. Whatever
needed, the German-born founder of the NYC 57 th Street institution could produce and mail the
requested overnight. “This is the age of the close-up. A good photograph, like a good book,
should make ‘instant contact’ with both viewer and reader. It shouldn’t require any explanation
other than historic identification. The day and age when you showed the entire battle scene is
over. Today, the public wants ‘instant contact with an identifiable incident’. A dashing soldier,
for instance. The viewer can and will supply his own underpinnings. He can envision the battle
surrounding the soldier . . . . people today have developed a sense of immediate pictorial
comprehension. In fact, they feel flattered if you don’t spell it out for them. They don’t want to
be treated like little children. They’ll figure out the missing links.” And who might one of Dr.
Bettmann’s favorite photographers be? Mathew Brady, that’s who. Like good writers, the
genius in him knew how to set up a photograph, just as the superior author does a worth-
reading storyline. The war photographer knew how to produce empathy for the Civil War
soldier. How to capture the man’s soul. His works were so touching. There was a certain
murkiness in every one of his photos. Loneliness glares at you. So does fear. Few, if any, other
photographers rivelled that gift of art. Unfortunately, photography (and writing) has become
just so much shutter-snapping. Those efforts will never end up in my archives.”
THREE MCFARLAND SPRING BOOKS ENABLE READERS TO MAKE “INSTANT CONTACT”
WITHIN TWO OF AMERICA’S THREE WORST WARS – – LIKE GREAT PHOTOGRAHS, THE
ABILITY TO ENVISION HISTORICAL IDENTIFICATION, TO SUPPLY THE UNDERPINNINGS OF
TRAGIC BATTLE DEATHS, DESTRUCTIONS, AND DEVASTATIONS, TO CAPTURE THE SOUL
OF INDIVIDUAL SOLDIERS WITH EMPATHY, TO FEEL WAR’S DARK, OBSCURE,
GLOOMINESS, are waiting to be read by those who sincerely want to be there . . . .
“THE BULLOCH BELLES – – Three First Ladies, a SPY, a President’s Mother and Other Women of a
19 th Century Georgia Family”, by Walter E. Wilson. McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers;
2015, 248 pages, 6”x 9”, softcover; $29.95. Visit, www.mcfarlandpub.com.
“TEXAS SOUTH PLAINS WAR STORIES – – Interviews with Veterans from World War II to
Afghanistan”, by Larry A. Williams and Katherine McLamore. McFarland & Company, Inc.,
Publishers; 2021, 320 pages, 6”x 9”, softcover; $35. Visit, www.mcfarlandpub.com.
“THE SS CITY of FLINT – An American Freighter at War, 1939 – 1943”, by Magne Haugseng.
McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers; 2021, 246 pages, 7” x 10”, softcover; $39.95. Visit,
www.mcfarlandpub.com.
Walter E. Wilson, a retired Navy captain and former head of US Naval Intelligence operations
in Europe, does an amazing job bringing his reader into “instant contact” with the Bulloch
women of Roswell, Georgia. They were certainly not ordinary antebellum Southern Belles. Most
were well educated world travelers skilled at navigating social circles far outside the insular
aristocracy of the rural South. Yes, but their lives were also filled with intrigue, espionage,
scandal, adversity, and perseverance. During the Civil War they eluded Union spies on land and
blockaders at sea. Afterwards they influenced the national debate on equal rights for women.
The impact of their Southern ideals increased enormously when they integrated into the
Roosevelt family of New York. Hence, Wilson’s meticulous research offers new discoveries
revealing via his brilliant narrative prose the private lives of the South’s first ladies, among them
a Confederate spy; the mom of President Teddy Roosevelt; the family’s nursemaid; and other
Bulloch Belles, all perfectly enthralling.
In “TEXAS SOUTH PLAINS WAR STORIES”, 104 veteran stories, inspiring and immensely
readable, have been compiled and categorized by era. In short, they are divided and presented
in four parts: 71 stories in Section One designated as World War II spanning 181 pages; Section
Two, 24 labelled under “Korea”, spanning 42 pages; seven in “The Vietnam War” collection, 25
pages; and, in Part IV, the Additional Stories category, the final eight, 30 more pages,
concluding the book. Jeff Shaara, author of “Gods and Generals” and “To Wake the Giants”,
sums up the Williams-McLamore anthology best, “The stories are important enough that we
must know them all to pass the best on into the future.” Hampton Sides echoes, “No question
about it. This is oral history at its best.” Many of the stories are accompanied by the photos of
them as young troopers, then as veterans of today.
What a hero-ship “The City of Flint” turned out to be! Even Hitler knew all about her
exploits, angrily scoffing her bravery. Four months old by Christmas morning, 1939, the
freighter had already become famous for rescuing 1,200 passengers from a torpedoed ocean
liner in the Atlantic. Captured by a Nazi warship and dispatched toward a German port, she was
rigged with explosives to ensure the British Navy would not capture her. But Norwegian soldiers
did, liberating her, again angering the Fuhrer.
Xmas 1942 saw the “Flint” in New York alongside of other freighters loading up military
supplies for North Africa. Allied shipping codes had been cracked by the German Navy, allowing
a group of U-boats to lay in wait outside the harbor to attack. Secretly carrying poison gas as
part of her cargo, she was successfully torpedoed and exploded on January 25, 1943. Eleven
survivors in her four lifeboats fought off mountainous seas, hungry sharks, and maddening
hunger. One crewman went mad and walked overboard. The others survived 46 days before
rescue. Thus, such eyewitness accounts place the reader in “instant contact” with the Atlantic,
those huddled in their lifeboats facing capsizing, and drowning in the near freezing tumultuous
waters. Author Magne Haugseng, a political scientist and historian, carefully weaves war diaries
and exhumed archival sources to retell the tragic story of the beloved “Flint”.
