"No Easy Day" by Matt Bissonnette ("Mark Owen") and Kevin Maurer

The American way of life changed on September 11, 2001. I am not a wordsmith, so I will not attempt to offer a memorial of the lives lost on that day. Our nation mourned greatly - and still mourns - over the loss of so many of our fellow Americans.
On the 13th anniversary of those terror attacks, I thought it appropriate to write this review of the book "No Easy Day," which is a first-hand account of Operation Neptune Spear (the mission that led to the death of Osama bin Laden). Obviously, the mission itself was carried out in May of 2011 - but this mission was a significant moment in the country's response to the attacks.

Let me say up front: as a Christian, I do not believe it is right, appropriate, or Christ-like to rejoice over someone's death. Osama bin Laden is burning in hell right now, and he will be for eternity. This sobering fact will never ease the pain for those who lost loved ones on 9/11. (The sad reality is, many of the victims of 9/11 are also probably in hell right now). So, I do not cheer the death of bin Laden. It may have been necessary - and beneficial - for our country. However, if God Himself does not take pleasure in the death of the wicked, then I cannot either (Ezekiel 33:11). I mourn also that bin Laden never repented of his sins and trusted in Christ as His Savior. Had he done so decades ago, it is possible that 9/11 never would have happened (although that is not to say some other terrorist wouldn't have attempted something similar). Remember, Christ's command was to "love your enemies" - Matthew 5:44. And also remember that God is not willing that ANY should perish (even the "bin Ladens" of the world) - 2 Peter 3:9. Christ died for bin Laden, too.

I won't attempt to comment much on the ethics of the operation written about in the book - nor the "War on Terror" as a whole. This is a simple book review blog, so I will review the book on its own merits as a work of non-fiction.

The large heading above the title of the book on the front cover says, "The firsthand account of the mission that killed Osama bin Laden." But we don't get to that mission until near the end of the book. The small heading under the title says, "The autobiography of a Navy SEAL." Due to the author's attempts at hiding his identity, the autobiography was pretty weak. More than once, I got the feeling that this book wasn't sure what it wanted to be... Is it an autobiography/memoir? Is it a "set-the-record-straight" bombshell? Is it an intimate peek at the Navy's elite SEAL teams and what it takes to become a SEAL? Ultimately, the book was some of all of these - but not definitively ANY of them.

If you have heard about this book at all, it is probably because of the controversy surrounding it. "Mark Owen" is a pseudonym used by the author. In fact, almost all of the names in the book are fabrications, in order to protect the identities of the operators and personnel involved in the missions and training. But very soon after the book was written, it was leaked that former SEAL Matt Bissonnette was actually the author. The military community - and the US government - overwhelmingly condemned the author for writing this book. They claim it was not properly vetted to ensure that no information contained in it would put any personnel or operations at risk. Others have said that each operator involved in the mission signed a Non-Disclosure Agreement and that Bissonnette violated that agreement (and therefore betrayed his brothers-in-arms). I am not an expert in the legalities of it all, but if this is true one has to wonder what the author's real motives for writing this book were. He pretty much admits that writing this book was one of the first things that he started after the mission was over. I couldn't help but get the feeling that he knew all along that he was going to try to turn a profit on this story - which severely weakens his claim that he wrote the book to "set the record straight" (author's own words).

Don't get me wrong, the book was interesting enough. I finished it quickly. I enjoyed hearing an insider's perspective on the close-knit special forces community. It was thrilling to hear about the split-second decisions that had to be made in the heat of the mission. When I am presented with stories like these, a part of me is intensely thankful that our country has men brave enough and tough enough to carry out these missions. And let's face it - every man wonders at some point in his life if he would have had the "right stuff" to be one of those heroes.

On a more basic critical level, there was a pretty decent amount of vulgar language and talking about crude topics, which is not surprising. The book was never dull - no scene or chapter dragged on to the point of being boring. It was about what I expected it to be, but it did not really blow me away in any sense. In fact, it was rather anti-climactic!

Again, I will leave the finer arguments of the ethics/legality of the US military operations in the middle east for others to debate. I will also leave the theological/moral issues for Christians to be discussed by those more qualified. I am still proud and glad to be an American citizen - and I have much respect for our military.

On this anniversary of 9/11, please take a few moments to pray for those who lost loved ones that day. And pray for our men and women who are still overseas serving our country.

"December 1941" by Craig Shirley (Kindle Edition)

I began reading this e-book in March. Little did I know I would be finishing it the night before V-E day (May 8th). How appropriate! The author's research and attention to detail are very admirable. The book was quite long and packed with more information than the brain can actually comprehend in a quick-read, but it held my interest steadily. Let me get the minutia out of the way: there were a smattering of curse words throughout the book (most of them were NOT in the context of a quote, so they were totally unnecessary). The author constructed some very awkward sentences - mainly in the way they were phrased... Dangling modifiers and such. The placement (or omission) of commas in odd places also caused some mild irritation. There were a few formatting errors, like missing spaces between words, quotation marks out of place, etc. But for the vast scope of the book, I can overlook all these things as trivial.

I've never read anything of substance concerning World War II before this book. The truth behind the tragedy of Pearl Harbor and the effect it had on our nation was much more astonishing than I'd ever known. Instead of giving positive/negative critiques, let me point out a few of the thoughts that impacted me the most in this book.

1. The Allies may have eventually won the war, but in December of 1941 the Axis powers were doing all the damage. It really surprised me how badly the war was going the first few weeks after America joined the fray. (The war had technically been going on for two years, but our American frame of mind usually forgets about the fact that much happened around the world before the attack on Pearl Harbor.) Japan was relentless in its desire to dominate the Asia-Pacific arena. Also, German troops had pushed their weight all over Europe, North Africa, and almost all the way to Moscow! Things could have turned out very differently for the Allies...

2. The U.S. experienced a tremendous unity after Pearl Harbor. The shared national tragedy created a solemn resolve in every American heart. The government asked so much of the people, but the people gladly met the need of the hour. Rationing, blackouts, "war bonds" - all of it was not merely tolerated, but embraced by the people with an amazing "Can-do" attitude. It made me sad to realize that our nation today is morally incapable of such unity. If we could not experience the same steely resolve and unity after the attacks of 9/11, when will we ever see it? Why is there no die-hard loyalty to the flag, to our military, to each other? Instead of the "Greatest Generation", we have people who call 911 because McDonalds is out of french fries..... It is unthinkable that the America of today would be willing to give up the rubber for their car tires, or donate a seventh work-day to the war effort without pay, or agree not to make long-distance calls in case of a defense emergency - all of which the Americans of the 1940's did without flinching. Again, the nation lacks the moral and spiritual fortitude to survive another such hour of dire need. May God have mercy on us.

3. Winston Churchill was an amazing individual. There were other men (and women) of the time period who were great in character and influence, but Churchill is just a radiant figure. I didn't (and still don't) know much about him; but I am determined to read a biography on him soon, as well as all of his speeches I can find. His skills of speech were only rivaled by his charisma as a leader.

The book was tremendously eye-opening. The picture it paints of the nation of that day, and how the men and women rose to meet a remarkable challenge against an unspeakable evil - well, in short, they make me proud to be an American. What a heritage of heroes we have! I give the book 4.5 out of 5 stars.

I received this e-book free from the publishers in exchange for my honest review.

"Curiosities of the Civil War" by Webb Garrison

This is the first book on the Civil War that I have ever read, and I must say that I was quite astounded by its scope. There are facts and topics covered that I would never have even begun to think about concerning this war - things like hostages and pirates, improvements in weaponry with inventions such as land mines and grenades, how (and if) soldiers got paid, spies and deserters, US Supreme Court cases involving the conflict, and the list goes on and on.
This is not a read-through volume. It is more of a topical reference or casual trivia book (like a bathroom reader). Each factoid is explained in a few sentences or a few short paragraphs; very few nuggets of information took up even one printed page. This is a positive aspect, in my opinion, because I was not forced to read an entire chapter about a certain time period or battle or person - just snippets grouped loosely under broad categories.
There were a few negatives to me. For one, towards the end of the book there were a few typographical errors. In the most extreme case, "n" was all that survived of the intended preposition "in." Considering this is a reprint, a new edition, typos like these are inexcusable. Did no one proofread the reprint?
Other than that, the biggest negative was repetition. Due to the size and scope of the work, it unfortunately delivers many re-tellings of the same battles and situations, although from different perspectives concerning different subjects. So, reading the book straight through (as I did in a few days) is not recommended. Read it in spurts, a chapter or so at a time over a long period. You will appreciate it more that way.
In all, it is an excellent book that was very insightful for me!
I received this book from the publisher as part of the BookSneeze bloggers' review program. I was not required to give a positive review, and the opinions stated are my own.

"Seeds of Turmoil" by Bryant Wright

I give this book 4 out of 5 stars. There are just a few minor reasons I did not give it a 5-star rating. First of all, the first several chapters were fairly redundant. There were good-sized passages of Scripture that were repeated. The author was showing the roots of the Isaac/Ishmael conflict from the eyes of each person involved (Abraham, Sarah, Hagar, etc.); but it was too drawn out. Don't get me wrong - the Biblical information was great. It could have been a little more concise, because I almost lost interest in the first few chapters.

The only other reason for the 4-star rating would be the last two chapters. I never understood where the author was going with the chapter on the "Christian Perspective". He seemed to building up to something, but I couldn't figure out what it was. In the last chapter, the author answers three questions that people frequently ask him. I didn't see why this was necessary - other than the extremely brief invitation to salvation in the last two paragraphs.

The positive elements were many. Wright gave me a much better understanding of the mind-set of the Arabs (and the Iranians, for that matter). He also explained the history of the return of the Jews to Israel and how they got their land back. The prophetic information was good, and the historical information was excellent (not too in-depth or dry; just enough detail to give you a desire to research more). The author used a very casual style of writing and never delivered his thoughts in a way that would seem "academic". In fact, it was more in the style that a pastor would use (no surprise there, since he is a pastor).

There is a helpful glossary in the back of the book, as well as a nifty Study Guide that can be used individually or with groups. All in all, it is a great book!

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers through http://www.booksneeze.com/. I was not required to write a positive review, and the opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.