DSWT Blank - Royal New Zealand Navy

Transcription

Foreword by Chief of Navy
We are all te Taua Moana O Aotearoa;
Warriors of the Sea from New Zealand. We
are united by the Naval profession of arms.
As we progress through the year of
empowerment I want you all to know that
the future and the strength of our Navy lies
in you, our people.
As Chief of Navy I will provide you with as
many opportunities for your own
professional development as I can. I want to
make sure that each and every civilian,
sailor and officer amongst us reaches their
potential and fully enjoys and exploits the
Navy experience. If we each individually
achieve our full potential, collectively we will
ensure our Navy remains strong and
effective and we will increase our mana and
standing with all of our partners.
Whaia e koe te iti kahurangi, kia tapapa
koe, he maunga tiketike – Follow your
treasured aspirations, if you falter, let it be
because of insurmountable difficulties.
The RNZN Reading List attached has been
compiled to increase our awareness of the
environment in which we operate and to
improve our critical thinking ability.
It has been developed by Navy personnel
for Navy personnel and others with an
interest in the Naval profession of arms. It
has been developed to provide us with a
means to better understand and appreciate
our profession and our ability to function as
mariners going down to the sea in ships.
To succeed in a military profession, you
need to be able to understand manuals,
policies, directives and procedures. You
need a high level of reading ability. Reading
is a skill that takes time to develop, and time
to master but it is the easiest skill to start,
you just need to pick up a book and start.
This list is not exhaustive and by no means
is it complete. It is a point from which to
commence or continue your journey to
improve your reading fitness and literacy
ability.
The importance of professional and general
reading cannot be overstated. The words of
the whakatauākī: ‘Kia mau koe ki nga kupu
ou tupuna’ - Hold fast to the words of your
ancestors, reminds us that knowledge of the
stories of our forebears, fellow mariners and
strategic partners is an important element in
the journey towards our Vision.
I commend this list to you. Involve your
shipmates and oppos, discuss your books,
and share your thoughts and points of view,
whether they are critical or supportive.
Good luck with it.
Introduction
Reading is a pastime that is rapidly being
relegated in our ever busy lives, many of us
have lost the art (and the joy) of simply
curling up on a comfortable chair with a
really good book. The introduction of MP3
players, portable DVD’s, video games and
the ‘on-tap’ hours of entertainment they
seem to offer have further eroded reading to
be seen as an old fashioned activity that no
longer serves a purpose.
Research has highlighted that 1 in 4 adults
do not at all. Those that do read, on
average barely manage just 4 books in any
given year.
Without a doubt, reading is being forsaken
in its importance as we find new ways and
means to occupy our time.
We are
forgetting the importance of reading. Trends
indicate that people don't take the time to
read
books,
magazines,
or
even
newspapers
anymore.
They
are
increasingly relying on the internet and
television to satisfy their entertainment
needs.
Reading however provides us with a
gateway to the past, an imagination of the
future, an insight to a time impossible to
visit. Reading provides us with the ability to
learn a new skill and understand the
thought processes of historical figures. If
you want to contemplate how you would
have reacted in a given situation try an
alternative history book and consider how
events in history may have resulted in a
different outcome with just a slight and
plausible change in circumstances.
Reading has many benefits, from building
your vocabulary, to enhancing your thinking
capacity to relaxation and de-stressing. If
you need a few moments to relax after a
hard day, reading is a wonderful way to do
so. It really doesn’t matter what book you
read, but if you can lose yourself in a book
you can escape from worry and stress
much easier and quicker than you think.
We are all taught the benefits of physical
exercise for fitness, agility and strength. As
it is with your body, your mind also needs a
exercise. You can’t get physically fit by
watching TV, neither can you get reading fit.
Regular reading (exercise) enables your
mind to bend and flex mentally, and
provides a stronger ability to remain
focused throughout the day. There is no
greater avenue to enhanced learning then
through reading.
The RNZN Reading list has been compiled
to provide a reference to assist with
selecting books to read. The list may seem
quite large but it is separated across several
key themes and contains both non-fiction
and fiction titles. Non-fiction titles provide
factual detail on a given theme or person
but often are difficult to read if the joy of
reading has been lost.
Fictional titles, especially when framed
around a realistic plot, add an element of
enjoyment not too dissimilar from watching
the latest blockbuster at the cinema.
Fiction reading is an excellent warm-up
routine to ease into the habit of reading
before tackling your first non-fiction title.
It doesn’t matter whether you consider
yourself a strong reader or not, the best way
to develop your reading fitness is to read –
you only have to read more than 4 books in
a year to be better than average!
It doesn’t matter how long it takes to read a
book, it is the process of reading and
increasing your level of understanding that
really matters. You will see ship silhouettes
alongside each title; the symbol is an
indicator of the ‘reading fitness’ that you will
need in order to gain maximum enjoyment
out of reading the title.
The RNZN Reading List is a guide, it is not
a target and it is not exclusive. There is no
prize for reading all of the books. Equally
the list should not be restrictive to your
reading; there are thousands of books out
there waiting to be discovered and read.
Reading beyond this list is recommended,
but where possible I have included
additional titles by the same author.
The majority of the books on this list are
currently available through the Defence
Library Scheme or your local council library.
The titles are also available for purchase
through any bookshop in New Zealand or
the range of online sites. Purchasing a book
lets you highlight certain passages,
annotate with your own notes for ease of
future reference – this may be useful for you
– particularly with many of the books in the
Leadership and Critical thinking section of
the list.
Some titles have also been translated to the
cinema or television.
If you have read a book on the list and
consider that it should be removed for any
reason, I invite your feedback. If you have
read a book that is not on this list but you
consider that it has useful insights for your
shipmates then you are encouraged to send
in a review so your book can be
incorporated into future editions of the
RNZN Reading list. You do not need to
recommend an entire book, a single chapter
alone may be appropriate.
All feedback is welcome and can be sent
to: [email protected]
Note: This is likely to be the last edition of
the Navy List that I will produce. If anyone
would like to take the list forward, please let
me know. Thank you.
The IPV silhouette indicates that the book is a good easy read for readers of all
fitness levels.
The OPV silhouette indicates that the book requires a slightly higher than
average ‘Reading Fitness’ level. If you are not used to reading you may not
want to start with an ‘OPV’. After a couple of ‘IPV’s though you should be in
‘good shape’ to tackle an OPV.
The Frigate silhouette indicates that the book, whilst not an effort to read, does
require a higher than average ‘Reading Fitness’ level. This symbol should not
put you off reading this title but provides an indication that if you are not used to
reading, there may be other titles in this list that you should try reading first.
Indicates that the title has been translated into a Television Series. It may be
available on DVD.
Indicates that the title has been translated into a Major Motion Picture and may
be available on DVD.
Indicates that the title is a new addition to this version of the Reading List – the
new titles are also listed in Blue in the table of contents.
Table of Contents
Foreword by Chief of Navy
Introduction
Maritime Warfare
No Easy Day………………………………………………………………………...
Pirate Alley: Commanding Task Force 151 Off Somalia …………………………..
A Captain’s Duty………………………………………………………………………...
1812: The Navy’s War …………………………………………………………………
D-Day June 6, 1944: The Climatic Battle of World War II ………………………….
The US Navy and the War in Europe ………………………………………………...
The Great Naval Race …………………………………………………………………
Dreadnought: Britain, Germany and the Coming of the Great War ………………
Flyboys: The Final Secret of the Air War in the Pacific …………………………….
Eagle Against the Sun: The American War with Japan ……………………………
The Battle of the River Plate: The Hunt for the German Pocket Battleship ……...
Beyond the Battlefield: New Zealand and it’s Allies 1939 – 1945 ………………..
Four Weeks in May: The loss of HMS Coventry …………………………………….
One Hundred Days: Memoirs of the Falklands Battle Group Commander ………
Flags of our Fathers ……………………………………………………………………
Sea of Thunder: Four Great Commanders and the Last Great Naval Campaign.
A Mission of Honour: The Royal Navy in the Pacific 1769 – 1997 ………………..
Flying Navy: New Zealanders who flew in the Fleet Air Arm ………………………
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9
9
10
10
11
11
12
12
13
13
14
14
15
16
Application of Core Values
Into the Fire….…………………………………………………………………………..
Brothers Forever………………………………………………………………………..
Fearless………………………………………………………………………………….
Unbroken…………………………………………………………………………………
One Common Enemy…………………………………………………………………..
Outlaw Platoon………………………………………………………………………….
American Sniper………………………………………………………………………
Lone Survivor: The Eyewitness Account of Operation Redwing…………………..
Shackleton’s Captain: A Biography of Frank Worsley ……………………………...
Endurance ……………………………………………………………………………….
ANZAC Girls………………………………………… ………………………………….
A Bit Mental: One Man’s Mission to Lilo the Waikato……………………………….
17
17
18
18
19
19
20
20
21
21
22
22
Hell of High Water: New Zealand Merchant Seafarers Remember the War ..……
Apiata VC: The Reluctant Hero………………………………………………………...
Gunner Billy Willy ………………………………………………………………………..
Faith of my Fathers ……………………………………………………………………...
Sole Survivor – One Man’s Journey……………………………………………………
North Sea Warrior / A War By Stealth …………………………………………………
23
23
24
24
25
26
Leadership / Critical Thinking
It Worked for Me: In Life and Leadership……………………………………………..
War Diaries: 1939 – 1945……………………………………………………………….
The Introverted Leader: Building on your Quiet Strength…..………………….……
Lean In: Women, Work and the Will to Lead…………………………………..……..
Leaders Eat Last…………………………………………………………………………
The Trident: Forging and Reforging of a Navy SEAL Leader…..…………………..
Vital Voices: The Power of Women Leading Change Around the World……….…
American Spartan…………………………………………………………………..……
High Command: British Military Leadership in Iraq and Afghanistan……………….
Leadership Blindspots………………………………………………………………..….
Developing Women Leaders………………………………………………………...….
Blake: Leader – Leadership Lessons from a Great New Zealander ……………….
Black Hearts: One Platoon’s Descent Into Madness in Iraq’s Triangle of Death …
Turn the Ship Around!: A True Story of Turning Followers into Leaders ………….
Non-commissioned Officer and Petty Officer: Backbone of the Armed Forces…..
Bleeding Talent: How the US Military Mismanages Great Leaders ………………..
Its Your Ship: Management Techniques from the Best Damn Ship in the Navy …
Destroyer Captain – Lessons of a First Command…………………………………..
Navy Strategic Culture: Why the Navy Thinks Differently …………………………..
The Guinness Book of Naval Blunders ………………………………………………..
Joker One: A Marine Platoon’s Story of Courage, Leadership and Brotherhood…
28
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29
30
30
31
31
32
32
33
33
34
34
35
35
36
37
37
38
38
Regional and Cultural Awareness
The Penguin History of New Zealand …………………………………………………
Mister Pip …………………………………………………………………………………
The Kite Runner ………………………………………………………………………….
The Great Wall at Sea: China’s Navy Enters the Twenty First Century …………...
The Elephant and the Dragon: The Rise of India and China ……………………….
40
41
41
42
42
Not Enough Room to Swing a Cat: Naval Slang and its everyday usage ……...
Blue Ocean Strategy ………………………………………………………………….
43
43
Strategy Management / Organisational Change
Whatcha Gonna do with that Duck?......................................................................
The Moment you can’t Ignore……………………………………………………..…..
Winning the Story Wars………………………………………………………..………
What Got You Here, Won’t Get You There.………………………………………...
The Invisible Gorilla: And Other Ways Our Intuitions Deceive Us.……………….
Maverick …………………………………………………………………………………
Leading Change ……………………………………………………………………......
Good to Great …………………………………………………………………………..
The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People ……………………………………………..
The Fifth Discipline: The Art and Practice of the Learning Organisation …………
The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable ……………………………
45
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46
47
47
48
48
49
49
50
Naval Fiction
Rogue Avenger………………………………………………………………………….
Cruiser…………………………………………………………………………………….
Diamond Head……………………………………………………………….………….
The Hornblower Series ………………………………………………………………..
Sharpes Trafalgar ………………………………………………………………………
HMS Ulysses ……………………………………………………………………………
Choosers of the Slain …………………………………………………………………..
Tiger Cruise ……………………………………………………………………………..
Nimitz Class …………………………………………………………………………….
Phoenix Sub Zero ………………………………………………………………………
The Hunt For Red October …………………………………………………………….
Master and Commander ……………………………………………………………….
The Cruel Sea ………………………………………………………………………......
The Caine Mutiny ……………………………………………………………………….
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56
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58
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No Easy Day
Pirate Alley: Commanding Task Force
151 Off Somalia
Author: Mark Owen
Author: RADM Terry McKnight USN (Ret.) and, Michael Hirsh
Examines the mission that killed Osama Bin
Laden, details the selection and training
process for one of the most elite units in the
military,
and
describes
previously
unreported missions that illustrate the life
and work of a SEAL and the evolution of the
team after the events of September 11
With piracy on the rise and fast becoming a
serious global security issue, Admiral Terry
McKnight took command of a new multinational task force in 2009 to combat piracy
in the Gulf of Aden. As task force
commander, he directed operations that
disrupted several hijackings and resulted in
the capture of sixteen Somali pirates. After
running head-on into a U.S. policy of catchand-release, he realized that there was
more to fighting piracy than just catching
youngsters armed with AK-47s and RPGs.
McKnight retired from the Navy and began
researching the problem. This book, cowritten with journalist Michael Hirsh, is a
very readable yet authoritative introduction
to the subject. The authors explore every
aspect of Somali piracy, from how the
pirates operate to how their actions have
impacted the world economy. They examine
various attempts to solve the problem,
including placing armed guards aboard
merchant ships, and highlight the best ways
to outfit ships for travel through high risk
areas
But they warn that a consequence of
successfully protecting such targets as
container ships and crude oil carriers may
be that pirates turn to crime on land, such
as the kidnapping of foreigners
In addressing the worldwide economic
impact of piracy, they note that piracy costs
as much as $13 billion a year, and in 2011
took 1000 seafarers into captivity. One
shipping company argues, however, that
over-reaching shipping regulations have a
greater negative effect on the economy.
The book concludes that in the interest of
justice and to protect the free flow of
commerce throughout the world, the United
States government needs to take additional
measures to stop the flow of U.S. dollars for
ransoms payments that serves as the only
reason for piracy in the region
7
MaritimeMAWarfare
RNZN Reading List Edition 3 (2015)
A Captain’s Duty.
1812: The Navy’s War
Author: Richard Phillips
Author: George C. Daughan
8th April 2009 was just an ordinary day for
53 -year-old Richard Phillips, captain of the
United States-registered cargo vessel, the
Maersk Alabama, as it headed towards the
port of Mombasa. Ordinary that is until, two
hundred or so miles off the east coast of
Africa, armed Somali pirates attacked and
boarded the freighter. It was the first time an
American cargo ship had been hijacked in
over 200 years.
What the pirates didn’t expect was that the
crew would fight back, nor did they expect
Captain Phillips to offer himself as a
hostage in exchange for the safety of his
crew - a courageous gesture that resulted in
his being held captive on a tiny life-boat off
the anarchic, gun-plagued coast of Somalia.
And so began a tense five-day stand-off,
which ended in a daring high-seas rescue
by U.S. Navy SEALs.
In A Captain's Duty, Richard Phillips tells
his own extraordinary story - that of an
ordinary man who did what he saw as his
duty and in so doing became a hero. It is a
thrilling true tale of adventure and courage
in the face of deprivation, death threats and
mock executions and also a compulsively
readable first-hand account of the terrors of
high-seas hostage-taking.
An easy yet fast paced read, this book
provides an engaging account of the War of
1812. Whilst Napoleon was testing the
patience of the European Powers and whilst
England was still reliving the glory that was
Trafalgar, a Naval War was being fought
across the Atlantic.
A stunning contribution to military and
American history, 1812: The Navy’s War is
the first complete account of how the U.S.
Navy rescued the fledgling nation and
secured America’s future.
At the outbreak of the War of 1812,
America’s prospects looked dismal. It was
clear that the primary battlefield would be
the open ocean America’s fleet was only
twenty ships strong and it had to size up
against the worked up Royal Navy
numbering over a thousand ships. Despite
the overwhelming odds against them, the
American navy managed to take the fight to
the British on the Great Lakes, in the
Atlantic, and even in the eastern Pacific,
and turn the tide of the war.
George C. Daughan tells the thrilling story
of how a handful of heroic captains and
their stalwart crews overcame spectacular
odds to lead the country to victory against
the world’s greatest imperial power.
8
MaritimeMAWarfare
D-Day June 6, 1944: The Climatic
Battle of World War II,
The US Navy and the War in Europe.
Author: Stephen Ambrose.
Author: Robert C Stern
Stephen E. Ambrose draws from more than
1,400 interviews with American, British,
Canadian, French, and German veterans to
create the preeminent chronicle of the most
important day in the twentieth century.
Ambrose reveals how the original plans for
the invasion were abandoned, and how
ordinary soldiers and officers acted on their
own initiative. D-Day is above all the epic
story of men at the most demanding
moment of their existence, when the
horrors, complexities, and triumphs of life
are laid bare. Ambrose portrays the faces of
courage
and
heroism,
fear
and
determination -- what Eisenhower called
"the fury of an aroused democracy" -- that
shaped the victory of the citizen soldiers
whom Hitler had disparaged.
The US Navy and Marine Corps Pacific
campaign during the Second World War
has rightly received a lion’s share of
attention from naval historians; it’s difficult
to comprehend how the defeat of Japan
could have been achieved without the
dominance of Sea Power. For many the
Pacific Campaign is considered the US
Navy’s greatest contribution to the war, but
US Navy operations in the Atlantic against
Hitler’s Kriegsmarine before and after the
attack on Pearl Harbor was as vital to the
war effort of the Allies as any other
campaign that leads to victory. Stern sums
up the differences of the Pacific and
European theatres as: “The war in the
Pacific was primarily naval. The premise
was simple: control the sea and Japan
would lose. In contrast, the war in Europe
could be lost at sea but not won there. To
win the war in Europe, the lands won by the
German Army would have to be taken back
by carrying Allied armies across open water
and landing on hostile shores, all on a scale
never attempted before.”
contribution to the victory in Europe through
operations in the Atlantic, Arctic and
Mediterranean. Stern describes so many
actions in such wonderful detail you just
can’t help begin to consider the implications
of each and every engagement on the final
outcome of the war such as Convoy escort
duties that saw USN ships engaging with
and by U-Boats before war had been
declared; through the search for and sinking
of the Bismarck.
When you see the picture of Churchill,
whilst waiting for the brow to be secured so
he can receive Roosevelt on HMS PRINCE
OF WALES, amusing himself by playing
with the battleship’s cat, you just know you
are reading an account of war not often told.
Even if you consider yourself a expert of
Second World War Maritime knowledge,
this book is guaranteed to tell you
something you didn’t know, and for that
reason alone is worthy of a read
The US Navy and the War in Europe is a
detailed but thoroughly enjoyable read full
of vignettes highlighting the US Navy’s
9
MaritimeMAWarfare
Dreadnought: Britain, Germany and the
Coming of the Great War.
The Great Naval Race: Anglo-German
Naval Rivalry 1900 - 1914.
Author: Robert K Massie
Author: Peter Padfield
This is the story of the naval race between
Germany and the UK in the years leading
up to WWI. Generally it is an easy read but
does become quite dry in some places with
detailed descriptions of, for example, the
various laws that Tirpitz drafted. Unlike
other books about this period, which
describe the arms build up as a race
between two competing empires, Padfield
argues that the overwhelming factor
leading to the naval arms race was simply
the influence of the main personalities
involved. On the German side there were
the obsessive ambitions of Kaiser Wilhelm
II and the megalomaniacal Admiral Tirpitz,
both seemingly wanted to create a Navy
simply to emulate Britain's, but of course
setting the two navies on a collision course.
On the British side were Admiral Fisher,
Edward Grey and Winston Churchill. These
three alone argued constantly against the
political inertia to get the British
Government to realise the threat of the
growing German Fleet. The book also
examines internal pressures within the
German and British fleets. For example, the
thread of submarine building is mentioned
throughout
and
the
struggle
that
submariners had in getting more of their
craft built versus more battleships. This of
course is somewhat ironic noting the effect
that submarines had on the conduct of WWI
compared to battleships.
The book draws heavily from original
documents and personnel archives. Even so
long after the event the lessons of the book
still resonates today with potential rivalries
between waning western powers and
waxing eastern powers.
It would be of keen interest to political
scientists who wish to examine relationships
between senior officers, civil servants and
political masters under an essentially
democratic monarchy as in Great Britain,
and the German monarchy that still wielded
considerable if not dictatorial powers.
Overall this is an excellent reference book
for the historian or academic rather than the
general reader.
Whereas The Great Naval Race- AngloGerman Naval Rivalry 1900 - 1914 starts in
1900 with a few references to earlier
history, this book starts with the European
status quo after the Battle of Trafalgar. It
reads easier than the Great Naval Race,
paints on a broader canvas and is less
academic in its style. It tells the story of the
naval race emphasising the forces that
shaped the thinking and attitudes of the
main characters involved and in so doing
goes some way to explain the reasons
behind their actions.
The book also
describes in more detail the influence of
other forces during the latter years of the
imperial period. An example of this was the
unintended consequences of an action such
as the Jameson Raid in South Africa, which
exposed racial jealously between the
English and German races nations at all
levels of society, the impact of the Boer War
generally and Germany's actions in Samoa.
In this manner the book tells a more entire
story around the naval race and nicely
draws historical fact with the personalities
involved.
Robert Massie is an American who studied
American History at Yale and Modern
European History at Oxford University. He
is a Pulitzer prize winner.
Other recommended reads by Robert
Massie:
Castles of Steel: Britain, Germany and
the Winning of the Great War at Sea
The sequel to Dreadnought, taking the
British and German battle fleets through
WWI. The fluent narrative begins amid the
diplomatic crisis of July 1914 and ends with
the scuttling of the German High Seas Fleet
at Scapa Flow in 1919. The focus is on the
two fleets that confronted each other across
the North Sea, their weapons and tactics
and their complex and controversial
leaders, both military and political.
Peter the Great
Nicholas and Alexandra
10
MaritimeMAWarfare
Flyboys: The Final Secret of the Air
War in the Pacific, (aka Flyboys: A
True Story of Courage)
Eagle Against the Sun: The American War
with Japan
Author: James Bradley
Author: Ronald Spector
Flyboys is the true story of young American
Navy airmen who were shot down over
Chichi Jima. Eight of these young men
were captured by Japanese troops and
taken prisoner. Another was rescued by an
American submarine and went on to
become president.
The reality of what happened to the eight
prisoners has remained a secret for almost
60 years. After the war, the American and
Japanese governments conspired to cover
up the shocking truth. Not even the families
of the airmen were informed what had
happened to their sons. It has remained a
mystery--until now. Critics called James
Bradley's last book "the best book on battle
ever written." Flyboys is even better: more
ambitious, more powerful, and more
moving.
Until the declassification of intelligence files
decades after the fact, the full scope of the
Pacific Theatre of World War II could not be
appreciated. Ronald Spector, a historian at
the Army Centre for Military History, drew
on these newly declassified files as well as
an abundance of British and American
archival material, Japanese scholarship and
documents, and research and memoirs of
scholarly and military men. The culmination
of his efforts was instantly hailed as a
masterpiece of World War II history, a work
of “dazzling brilliance.” It is widely considered to be the best single-volume account
of the war in the Pacific available to read
today. Inter-service rivalries were rampant,
and the road to jointness was a rocky one at
best. Publishers Weekly praised Spector for
his ability to “show how even the most
efficiently run campaigns unfold against a
background of violent dispute.”
For a solid grounding in the Pacific War,
Eagle Against the Sun is an ideal place to
start. By studying the complexities and difficulties of command and cooperation, it is
also an important look at how the obstacles
inherent in joint warfare can be overcome
and the ultimate goal of victory fulfilled
On the island of Chichi Jima those young
men would face the ultimate test. Their
story--a tale of courage and daring, of war
and of death, of men and of hope--will
make you proud, and it will break your
heart.
11
MaritimeMAWarfare
The Battle of the River Plate: The Hunt for
the German Pocket Battleship Graf Spee.
Beyond The Battlefield: New Zealand and
its Allies 1939 - 1945
Author: Gerald Hensley
Author: Dudley Pope
Naval historian and master storyteller
Dudley
Pope
combines
meticulous
research with hard-won understanding of
naval warfare in a blow-by-blow account of
the events surrounding this WWII naval
action. The Battle of the River Plate follows
the machinations of the German War
Machine as Captain Hans Lansdorff
commands the pocket battleship Graf Spee
on a mission to cripple British shipping in
the early days of the war. Through clever
subterfuge and daring, the Graf Spee takes
ship after ship, ultimately forcing the British
Navy to send twenty ships in search of the
elusive Spee.
In the estuary of the River Plate along the
Southeast coast of South America, the final
battle is joined: three lightly armoured
British cruisers take on one of the mightiest
warships in the Atlantic. Through a
combination of incredible luck and sheer
bravery, the British defeat the Graf Spee in
the final days of 1939. Little do they know
theirs is to be the last naval engagement
fought with tactics Nelson might have used
without modern aircraft or radar, and it is to
go down in history as one of the great naval
battles of WWII.
Dudley Pope was well known both as a
distinguished naval historian and as a
novelist. He served in the British Merchant
Navy during World War II and later became
the naval and defence correspondent for the
London Daily News. Along with ten nonfiction works, Pope also was the author of
the 18 novels in the Lord Ramage series.
His Nicholas Ramage, an officer in the
British Navy during the Napoleonic wars, is
widely regarded as the successor to C.S.
Forester's Hornblower. Pope died in 1997.
This book examines a key part of New
Zealand's history during which, under the
immense pressure of fighting a war on both
sides of the world, the country moved from
being a quiet and faraway outpost in the
Commonwealth to a strong independent
nation playing an influential role in the
shaping of the United Nations. It describes
New Zealand's sometimes rocky
relationships with its wartime allies: Great
Britain, Australia, and the United States.
This should be obligatory reading for any
officer in the NZDF. It describes the origins
of New Zealand's political parties’ attitudes
to defence which still resonate and should
be understood today, it describes New
Zealand's relationship with Australia during
WWII, which again should be understood
today and it describes New Zealand's
dawning realisation of its position in the
South Pacific and its relationship with our
Pacific neighbours, which again is the
foundation of our defence roles and tasks
today. Above all it is a very readable
account of the politics in New Zealand
during WWII and the story of its
relationships with its allies.
It is not a military history per se but is a.
recommended read for all military officers
Before retirement Gerald Hensley was a
career diplomat in the NZ Ministry of
Foreign Affairs. In his latter years he was
permanent Head of the Department of
Prime Minister and Cabinet (DPM&C) to
Prime Ministers Muldoon and Lange. He
was also Coordinator of ODESC and
Secretary of Defence.
12
MaritimeMAWarfare
Four Weeks in May: The Loss of “HMS
Coventry”.
One Hundred Days: Memoirs of the
Falklands Battle Group Commander.
Author: ADM Sandy Woodward and Patrick Robinson
Author: David Hark Dyke
In March 1982, the guided-missile
destroyer HMS Coventry was one of a
small squadron of ships on exercise off
Gibraltar. By the end of April that year, she
was sailing south in the vanguard of the
Task Force towards the Falklands. As
diplomacy failed, crisis became conflict. By
the time the ship left Ascension Island, its
company knew war was inevitable - a war
in which they would be in the front line. For
Coventry, the war began in earnest on 1
May. Her job was to be 'on picket' to the
north west of the islands. She was to
provide early warning of approaching
enemy aircraft from the west, and fend off
any incoming threat to the highly valuable
ships and aircraft behind her.
On 25 May, Coventry was attacked by two
Argentine Skyhawks, and hit by three
bombs. The explosions tore out most of her
port side and killed 19 of the crew, leaving
many others injured - mostly by burns.
Within twenty minutes Coventry capsized,
and was to sink early the next day. In her
final moments, when all those not killed by
the explosions had been evacuated from the
ship, her Captain, David Hart Dyke, himself
badly burned, climbed down her starboard
side and into a life-raft. Four Weeks in May
is his compelling and moving story.
David Hart Dyke began his naval career as
Midshipman (RNVR) in 1959. He then went
to Britannia Royal Naval College Dartmouth
as a regular officer before serving as
Commander of the Royal Yacht Britannia,
Captain of HMS Coventry in the Falklands
conflict, and Chief of Staff to the
Commander
British Naval
Staff in
Washington, DC. After he retired in 2003, he
transcribed the voice-recordings that he had
made on his return from the Falklands over
20 years earlier. These recordings, along
with the reminiscences of his ship’s
company, became the gripping story of Four
Weeks in May.
This bestselling, highly-acclaimed and most
famous account of the Falklands War, was
written by the commander of the British
Task Force. On 5 April 1982, three days
after the Argentine invasion of the Falkland
Islands, British armed forces were ordered
to sail 8,000 miles to the South Atlantic
unaware of what lay ahead of them or
whether they would be committed to actual
war. In these engrossing memoirs, Admiral
Woodward, Task Force commander from
the aircraft carrier HMS Hermes, takes us
from day one to day one hundred of the
conflict; from sailing through the waters of
the Atlantic with hopes of a political
settlement fading, and war becoming
increasingly likely, to the repulse of the
Argentinian navy and the daring amphibious
landing at San Carlos Water. The war,
which cost the lives of over 1,000 men, has
left a legacy of many historical debates and
controversies, from the sinking of ships
such as HMS Coventry, HMS Sheffield and
Sir Galahad, and the Argentinian cruiser,
General Belgrano, to wider issues such as
what was it like to command and fight a
modern air and naval war, the biggest naval
action since World War II?
'One Hundred Days' is unique as a dramatic
portrayal of the world of modern naval
warfare, where despite the use of
sophisticated
equipment
and
communications, the margins for human
error and courage were as wide as they
were in the days of Nelson.
Admiral Sir John Woodward entered the
Royal Navy at age 13 in 1946; he became a
submarine specialist. As Rear Admiral in
1981 he assumed the duties of Flag Officer
First Flotilla. In 1982, flying his Flag in the
aircraft
carrier
HMS
Hermes,
he
commanded the South Atlantic Task
Groups in the Falklands War, after which he
was awarded the KCB. He retired from
active service in 1989.
13
MaritimeMAWarfare
Flags of Our Fathers
Sea of Thunder: Four Great Commanders
and the Last Great Naval Campaign.
Author: Evan Thomas
Author: James Bradley with Ron Powers
In February 1945 U.S. Marines plunged into
the surf at Iwo Jima; and into history.
Through a hail of machine-gun and mortar
fire that left the beaches strewn with fallen
comrades, they battled to the island’s
highest peak, and after climbing through a
landscape of hell itself, they raised a flag. In
this best-selling account, also a major 2006
motion-picture release, the son of one of the
Iwo flag-raisers presents a powerful account
of six very different men who came together
in a moment that will live forever.
To his family, John Bradley never spoke of
the photograph or the war. But after his
death at age 70, his family discovered
closed boxes of letters and photos. Author
James Bradley draws on those documents
to retrace the lives of his father and the men
of his Company. Following these men’s
paths to Iwo Jima, Flags of Our Fathers is a
classic story of the heroic battle for the
Pacific’s most crucial island; an island
riddled with Japanese tunnels and 22,000
fanatic defenders willing to fight to the last
man. But perhaps the most interesting story
is what happened after the victory.
The men in the photo (three were killed
during the battle) were proclaimed heroes
and flown home, to become reluctant
symbols. For two of them, the adulation
was shattering. Only James Bradley’s
father truly survived, displaying no copy of
the famous photograph in his home, telling
his son only, “The real heroes of Iwo Jima
were the guys who didn’t come back.” This
is an unforgettable chronicle of one of the
most famous moments of the Pacific War,
and the story behind the iconic photograph
that became an enduring symbol.
A peculiar characteristic of Maritime warfare
since 1945 is that whilst navies have become
more powerful and expensive, combat
between fleets of ships at sea has all but
become extinct. The battle for Leyte Gulf in
October of 1944, the last great naval
confrontation, was immense. Four separate
engagements over hundreds of miles, 35
Aircraft Carriers, 21 Battleships, 34 Cruisers
and Hundreds of Destroyers and more than
1700 aircraft.
of the battles but what makes the book
particularly readable is the confirmation
that whilst technology and tactics are
important, victory ultimately depends upon
human judgment and will.
The story takes the perspective of 4 of the
Commanders involved in the Battle –
Japanese Vice Admirals Kurita and Ugaki,
US Admiral Halsey, and a commander of a
USN Destroyer – Ernest E Evans.
The book covers the contextual framing of the
behaviours of Kurita and Halsey and the
shaping of their thoughts, Halsey in particular
in his relentless pursuit of the Japanese
carrier force, a pursuit that began in the hours
following Pearl Harbor. Sea of Thunder
spectacularly covers the action
14
MaritimeMAWarfare
A Mission of Honour: The Royal Navy in
the Pacific 1769-1997
Flying Navy: New Zealanders who flew
in the Fleet Air Arm
Author: John McLean
Author: Fleet Air Arm Museum of NZ, MOTAT, Auckland.
John McLean has compiled the story of the
Royal Navy in the Pacific, from the great
explorations of Cook and Vancouver, to the
era of empires and colonial wars, until the
final departure from Hong Kong in 1997. A
substantial book of 500 pages, the author
highlights the RN’s great influence in the
19th and early 20th centuries, when it was
the instrument of the world’s then super
power.
2009New Zealand
During WWII, some 800 young
men trained as pilots, observers, or
telegraphist-air gunners in the Fleet Air Arm.
All told, 179 young Kiwis died in FAA service;
some in action, some in deck crashes, while
at least two were executed by their captors.
Flying Navy: New Zealanders who flew in the
Fleet Air Arm is superbly researched; a
detailed career summary of each of the New
Zealanders on the Fleet Air Arm Roll of
Honour. David Allison and his publisher, Ray
Richards, were Corsair pilots in the Fleet Air
Arm; they have compiled a fascinating
account of the sacrifice made by a littleknown group of New Zealanders. David
Allison was chairman and curator of the FAA
Museum at MOTAT in Auckland; sadly, he
passed away in March 2010.
Other recommended reads about Naval
Aviation:
Aircraft carriers at war : a personal
retrospective of Korea, Vietnam and the
Soviet confrontation
by Admiral James L. Holloway III
15
MaritimeMAWarfare
16
MaritimeMAWarfare
Into the Fire
Brothers Forever
Author: Dakota Meyer and Bing West
Author: Tom Sileo and Col Tom Manion USMC (Ret)
In the fall of 2009, Taliban insurgents
ambushed a patrol of Afghan soldiers and
Marine advisors in a mountain village
called Ganjigal. Firing from entrenched
positions, the enemy was positioned to
wipe out one hundred men who were
pinned down and were repeatedly refused
artillery support. Ordered to remain behind
with the vehicles, twenty-one year-old
Marine corporal Dakota Meyer disobeyed
orders and attacked to rescue his
comrades.
With a brave driver at the wheel, Meyer
stood in the gun turret exposed to
withering fire, rallying Afghan troops to
follow. Over the course of the five hours,
he charged into the valley time and again.
Employing a variety of machine guns,
rifles, grenade launchers, and even a rock,
Meyer
repeatedly
repulsed
enemy
attackers, carried wounded Afghan soldiers
to safety, and provided cover for dozens of
others to escape
In the end, Meyer and four stalwart
comrades, an Army captain, an Afghan
sergeant major, and two Marines cleared
the battlefield and came to grips with a
tragedy they knew could have been
avoided. For his actions on that day,
Meyer became the first living Marine in
three decades to be awarded the Medal of
Honor.
Into the Fire tells the full story of the
chaotic battle of Ganjigal for the first
time, in a compelling, human way that
reveals it as a microcosm of our recent
wars. Meyer takes us from his upbringing
on a farm in Kentucky, through his Marine
and sniper training, onto the battlefield,
and into the vexed aftermath of his
harrowing exploits in a battle that has
become
the
stuff
of
legend.
Four weeks after Navy SEALs had killed
Osama bin Laden, the President of the United
States stood in Arlington National Cemetery. In
his Memorial Day address, he extolled the
courage and sacrifice of the two young men
buried side-by-side in the graves before him:
Travis Manion, a fallen US Marine, and
Brendan Looney, a fallen US Navy SEAL.
Although they were killed three years apart, one
in Iraq and one in Afghanistan, these two best
friends and former roommates were now buried
together—“brothers forever.”
Award-winning journalist Tom Sileo and
Travis’s father, former Marine colonel Tom
Manion, tell the intimate and personal story of
how these Naval Academy roommates defined
a generation’s sacrifice after 9/11, and how
Travis and Brendan’s loved ones overcame
heartbreak to carry on in their memory. From
Travis’s incredible heroism on the streets of
Fallujah to Brendan’s anguished Navy SEAL
training in the wake of his friend’s death and his
own heroism in the mountains of Afghanistan.
The co-writer of this book, Tom Manion,
tells the heartfelt and devastating story of
his son Travis Manion and one of his son's
best friends, Brendan Looney, and how
they both gave their lives for what they
believed in.
The two met in 2001 at the US Naval
Academy in Annapolis, Maryland where
they both graduated before being
commissioned. They became instant and
lifelong friends. The book goes into detail
about the training both men went through
and the difficult decisions each made
about their commissions.
One of the most compelling factors that
makes this book such a powerful read is
that the authors include the details of
many of the battles that Travis was
involved with and what his thoughts are
throughout the battle. It's difficult for
someone who has never been in wartime
battles and conflicts to imagine what the
thought processes are that go through a
soldier's mind.
17
Application of
MACore Values
Fearless: The Undaunted Courage and Ultimate
Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival,
Sacrifice of Navy SEAL Team SIX Operator Adam
Brown
Resilience, and Redemption
Author: Laura Hillenbrand
Author: Eric Blehm
Fearless takes you deep into SEAL Team
SIX, straight to the heart of one of its most
legendary operators.
When Navy SEAL Adam Brown woke up
on March 17, 2010, he didn’t know he
would die that night in the Hind Kush
Mountains of Afghanistan—but he was
ready. In a letter to his children, not meant
to be seen unless the worst happened, he
wrote, “I’m not afraid of anything that might
happen to me on this earth, because I
know no matter what, nothing can take my
spirit from me.”
Fearless is the story of a man of extremes,
whose courage and determination were
fuelled by faith, family, and the love of a
woman. It’s about a man who waged a war
against his own worst impulses, including
drug addiction, and persevered to reach
the top tier of the U.S. military.
In a deeply personal and absorbing
chronicle, Fearless reveals a glimpse
inside the SEAL Team SIX brotherhood,
and presents an indelible portrait of a
highly trained warrior whose final act of
bravery led to the ultimate sacrifice.
Adam Brown was a devoted man who was
an unlikely hero but a true warrior,
described by all who knew him
as…fearless.
“As a rule, we don’t endorse books or
movies or anything regarding the
command where I work—and Adam
Brown worked—but as the author writes
in Fearless, ‘you have to know the rules,
so you know when to bend or break them.’
This is one of those times. Read this
book. Period. It succeeds where all the
others have failed.” Anonymous SEAL
Team SIX Operator
In boyhood, Louis Zamperini was an incorrigible
delinquent. As a teenager, he channelled his
defiance into running, discovering a prodigious
talent that had carried him to the Berlin
Olympics.
When World War II began, the athlete became
an airman, embarking on a journey that led to a
doomed flight on a May afternoon in 1943.
When his Army Air Forces bomber crashed into
the Pacific Ocean, against all odds, Zamperini
survived, adrift on a foundering life raft.
Ahead of Zamperini lay thousands of miles of
open ocean, leaping sharks, thirst and
starvation, enemy aircraft, and, beyond, a trial
even greater.
Driven to the limits of endurance, Zamperini
would answer desperation with ingenuity;
suffering with hope, resolve, and humour;
brutality with rebellion. His fate, whether
triumph or tragedy, would be suspended on the
fraying wire of his will.
18
Application of
MACore Values
One Common Enemy: The Laconia Incident:
Outlaw Platoon
A Survivor's Memoir
Author: Jim McLoughlin and David Gibb
Author: Sean Parnell and John Bruning
“I'll see the world”' Jim McLoughlin told his
parents as he set off to join the Royal Navy
in 1939. 'It'll be fun.'
Months later, this Liverpool lad was sailing
to war aboard the massive battleship HMS
"Valiant." He saw some of the world, but it
wasn't fun.
In One Common Enemy, Jim recounts how
the chaos and carnage of war at sea in the
Norwegian and Mediterranean campaigns
led him to a fateful rendezvous with a
much loved ship from his boyhood, the
passenger liner Laconia.
Nostalgia turned to disaster when
"Laconia" was torpedoed by a German U boat in the South Atlantic. Despite a
remarkable rescue attempt
by
a
courageous, compassionate foe, Jim was
condemned to a drifting lifeboat and a
harrowing voyage of death and madness
One Common Enemy is a story of
courage, story about a desperate personal
battle for survival, but also a moving
narrative of innocence lost and a lifelong
battle with confronting memories.
In combat, men measure up. Or don't. There
are no second chances.
In this vivid account of the U.S. Army's
legendary 10th Mountain Division's heroic
stand in the mountains of Afghanistan, Captain
Sean Parnell shares an action-packed and
highly emotional true story of triumph, tragedy,
and the extraordinary bonds forged in battle.
At twenty-four years of age, U.S. Army Ranger
Sean Parnell was named commander of a fortyman elite infantry platoon (a unit that came to
be known as the Outlaws), and was tasked with
rooting out insurgents from a mountain valley
along Afghanistan's eastern frontier. Parnell
and his men assumed they would be facing a
ragtag bunch of civilians, but in May 2006 what
started out as a routine patrol through the lower
mountains of the Hindu Kush became a brutal
ambush. Barely surviving the attack, Parnell's
men now realized that they faced the most
professional and seasoned force of light
infantry the U.S. Army had encountered since
the end of World War II.
What followed was sixteen months of
close combat, over the course of which the
platoon became Parnell's family.
The cost of battle was high: Over 80%
were wounded in action, putting their
casualty rate among the highest since
Gettysburg, and not all of them made it
home.
A searing and unforgettable story of
comradeship in battle, Outlaw Platoon
brings to life the intensity and raw emotion
of those sixteen months, showing how the
fight reshaped the lives of Parnell and his
men and how the love and faith they found
in one another ultimately kept them alive.
19
Application of
MACore Values
American Sniper: A World War II Story of
Survival, Resilience, and Redemption
Lone Survivor: The Eyewitness Account
of Operation Redwing and the Lost
Heroes of SEAL Team 10
Author: Chris Kyle
Author: Marcus Luttrell (and Patrick Robinson)
He is the deadliest American sniper ever,
called “the devil” by the enemies he
hunted and “the legend” by his Navy SEAL
brothers . . .
From 1999 to 2009, U.S. Navy SEAL Chris
Kyle recorded the most career sniper kills
in United States military history. The
Pentagon has officially confirmed more
than 150 of Kyles kills (the previous
American record was 109), but it has
declined to verify the astonishing total
number for this book.
Iraqi insurgents feared Kyle so much they
named him al-Shaitan ("the devil") and
placed a bounty on his head. Kyle earned
legendary status among his fellow SEALs,
Marines, and U.S. Army soldiers, whom he
protected with deadly accuracy from
rooftops and stealth positions. Gripping
and unforgettable, Kyle's masterful
account of his extraordinary battlefield
experiences ranks as one of the great war
memoirs of all time.
A native Texan who learned to shoot on
childhood hunting trips with his father, Kyle
was a champion saddle-bronc rider prior to
joining the Navy. After 9/11, he was thrust
onto the front lines of the War on Terror,
and soon found his calling as a world-class
sniper who performed best under fire. He
recorded a personal-record 2,100-yard kill
shot outside Baghdad; in Fallujah, Kyle
braved heavy fire to rescue a group of
Marines trapped on a street; in Ramadi, he
stared down insurgents with his pistol in
close combat. Kyle talks honestly about
the pain of war—of twice being shot and
experiencing the tragic deaths of two close
friends.
Adrenaline-charged and deeply personal,
American Sniper is a thrilling eyewitness
account of war that only one man could
tell.
On a clear night in late June 2005, four
U.S. Navy SEALs left their base in
northern Afghanistan for the mountainous
Pakistani border. Their mission was to
capture or kill a notorious al Qaeda leader
known to be ensconced in a Taliban
stronghold surrounded by a small but
heavily armed force. Less then twentyfour hours later, only one of those Navy
SEALs remained alive.
This is the story of fire team leader
Marcus Luttrell, the sole survivor of
Operation Redwing, and the desperate
battle in the mountains that led, ultimately,
to the largest loss of life in Navy SEAL
history. But more than a story of survival it
is a story of commitment, courage and
comradeship as Luttrell’s teammates,
fought ferociously beside him until he was
the last one left. He was knocked
unconscious by a rocket grenade, blown
over a cliff, but still armed and still
breathing.
Over the next four days, badly injured and
presumed dead, Luttrell fought off six al Qaeda
assassins who were sent to finish him, then
crawled for seven miles through the mountains
before he was taken in by a Pashtun tribe, who
risked everything to protect him from the
encircling Taliban killers.
This is a rich and moving story, possible one of
the most powerful narratives ever written about
modern warfare-and a tribute to those who
made the ultimate sacrifice.
20
Application of
MACore Values
Shackleton's Captain: A Biography of Frank
Endurance
Worsley
Author: Frank Arthur Worsley
Author: John Thomson
Frank Worsley shared with Sir Ernest
Shackleton one of the greatest adventures
of the Heroic Age of Antarctic exploration.
After their ship Endurance was crushed in
the ice in 1915, they made what is perhaps
the most famous small-boat journey in
history, across 800 miles of the world's
roughest seas to get help. Worsley's
diaries and notes still provide the main
records of that journey, yet the fame of
Shackleton rather overshadowed the
modest New Zealander.
This first ever biography of Worsley sets
out to restore the balance. It tells the full
story of his extraordinary life, from
childhood as a larrikin in Akaroa, New
Zealand, to his apprenticeship at sea, and
the devolpment of his remarkable skills as
navigator and sailing master
The book also backgrounds the particular
friendship that flourished between Worsley
and Shackleton. In an age of mass
communications, Frank Worsley would
have been a public figure as famous as Sir
Edmund Hillary. This biography gives an
unhallowed yet eminent New Zealander
his proper place in history
The legendary tale of Ernest Shackleton's
gruelling Antarctic expedition, recounted in
riveting first-person detail by the captain of
HMS Endurance.
It is a tale of unrelenting high adventure
and a tribute to one of the most inspiring
and courageous leaders of men in the
history of exploration. 20 illustrations
You seriously mean to tell me that the ship is
doomed?" asked Frank Worsley, commander of
the Endurance, stuck impassably in Antarctic
ice packs. "What the ice gets," replied Sir
Ernest Shackleton, the expedition's unflappable
leader, "the ice keeps." It did not, however, get
the ship's twenty-five crew members, all of
whom survived an eight-hundred-mile voyage
across sea, land, and ice to South Georgia, the
nearest inhabited island.
First published in 1931, Endurance tells the full
story of that doomed 1914-16 expedition and
incredible rescue, as well as relating Worsley's
further adventures fighting U-boats in the Great
War, sailing the equally treacherous waters of
the Arctic, and making one final (and
successful) assault on the South Pole with
Shackleton.
21
Application of
MACore Values
ANZAC Girls: The extraordinary story of our
World War I nurses
A Bit Mental: One Man's Mission to Lilo
the Waikato
Author: Peter Rees
Author: Jimi Hunt
By the end of The Great War, 45 Australian
and New Zealand nurses had died in
overseas service and more than 200 had
been decorated. These were women who
left for war on an adventure, but were soon
confronted with remarkable challenges for
which their civilian lives could never have
prepared them. They were there for the
horrors of Gallipoli and they were there for
the savagery the Western Front. Within 12
hours of the slaughter at Anzac Cove they
had more than 500 horrifically injured
patients to tend on one crammed hospital
ship, and scores of deaths on each of the
harrowing days that followed. Every night
was a nightmare. Their strength and
humanity were remarkable.
Using diaries and letters, Peter Rees takes
us into the hospital camps, wards, and tent
surgeries on the edge of some of the most
horrific battlefronts of human history. But
he also allows the friendships and loves of
these courageous and compassionate
women to enrich their experiences, and
ours
This is a very human story from a different
era, when women had not long begun
their quest for equality and won the vote.
They were on the frontline of social
change as well as war, and the hurdles
they had to overcome and the price they
paid, personally and professionally, make
them a unique group in Anzac history.
Profoundly moving, The Other Anzacs is
story of extraordinary compassion and
courage shown by a group of Australian
and New Zealand women whose
contribution to the Anzac legend has
barely been recognized in history. Peter
Rees has changed our understanding of
that history forever
Jimi Hunt is a man who has spent most of his
life doing ridiculous things for his own
amusement. Things like building the country's
biggest Slip 'n' Slide, playing golf through the
streets of downtown Auckland, and holding an
alternative Summer Olympics including events
such as sandcastle building and rhythmic
gymnastics.
Jimi Hunt spoke at the RNZN Well Being
Seminar in 2013.
But what none of his friends knew was that Jimi
had been silently battling with depression. It
was eating him alive from the inside, affecting
his business, losing him friends and slowly,
painfully destroying his marriage. Disillusioned
with the help and advice he received, he read
that having a goal could help with depression.
Five minutes later Jimi set his goal and
announced it to the world – he would travel the
entire length of the Waikato River on an
inflatable mattress. Loneliness, 21,000 people
following the journey on Facebook, chancing
upon a dead body in the river, unbridled
kindness from strangers, physical pain, and
crazy psychic predictions are just a few of the
strange experiences that Jimi gained along the
way
22
Application of
MACore Values
Hell or High Water: New Zealand
Merchant Seafarers Remember the War
Willie Apiata VC: The Reluctant Hero.
Edited by: Neill Atkinson
Author: Paul Little & John Lockyer
Drawn from interviews with the men who
were there in the darkest days of World
War II, Hell or High Water includes stirring
accounts of war at sea: the seamen who
survived air and submarine attacks, an 18year-old awarded the George Cross during
the 1942 Pedestal convoy to relieve Malta;
and others who spent years in Japanese
prisons
During WW2 thousands of New
Zealanders served in New Zealand, British
and other Allied merchant marines. Many
braved the deadly German U-Boat threat
during the Battle of the Atlantic - the
longest campaign of the war - and sailed in
perilous convoys to Arctic Russia, Malta
and other high risk routes. Others manned
transport and hospital ships and took part
in the Allied landings in North Africa, Italy
and Normandy, with 105 100 Kiwi
merchant seafarers killed, 28 taken
prisoner, five of whom died in Japanese
captivity, but these figures are artificially
low, with many others listed as general
British losses. While these figures are
small compared to other
services, no other civilian group faced
such constant risk and the vital
contribution of this 'fourth' service has
never received the recognition it deserves.
The book includes firsthand accounts from
men who survived air and submarine
attacks, sometimes enduring days adrift in
open lifeboats, a seaman awarded the
George Cross during the 1942 pedestal
convoy to relieve Malta and another who
spent three years in Changi prison,
amongst many other stirring and poignant
accounts of life at war.
Corporal Willie Apiata became the first New
Zealander since the Second World War to be
awarded a Victoria Cross. Written by Paul
Little, one of New Zealand’s most experienced
writers, this is Willie’s story in his own words.
From his early life in small town East Coast to
his actions in Afghanistan, the book not only
establishes Cpl Apiata’s place in New Zealand’s
history but provides an insight into the nature of
a soldier who is truly a reluctant hero.
There is also humour in the book especially
after the drama when he was psychologically
assessed, something he did not like but was
necessary to find out if he was “some sort of
psycho”.
This is a must read for all current serving
members of the NZDF because it highlights and
brings to realism at the highest levels, our ethos
and values. This is an “authorised version” of a
living legend who is a soldier’s soldier who sees
himself as an ordinary kiwi just “doing his job”.
23
Application of
MACore Values
Gunner Billy
Faith of my Fathers
Author: Grant Howard
Author: John McCain and Mark Salter
"Gunner Billy" is a book about Lieutenant
Commander William Sanders, VC, DSO,
RN. William Sanders is the only New
Zealander to have won the Victoria Cross
while serving in the Navy. William Sanders
was in Command of the British 'Q Ship'
Prize, an armed ship disguised as an
'innocent merchant vessel' to trap German
U-boats during World War One.
On 30 April 1917, Lieutenant William
Edward Sanders, a New Zealander
serving in the Royal Naval Reserve, and in
command of a sailing ship, Prize, fought a
German submarine , U-93, in an action
since described as one of the greatest
minor naval actions of the First World War.
For his almost unbelievable bravery that
day Sanders was awarded the Victoria
Cross, "in recognition of his conspicuous
gallantry, consummate coolness, and skill
in command of HM Ships in action"
The portrayal of the incident that resulted
in the award of the Victoria Cross to
Lieutenant Sanders is excellently
conveyed. The book provides a fulsome
account of Sanders' childhood on the
North Shore of Auckland; how he gained
his seaman’s eye, first mucking about in
boats, and then further afield in coastal
waters of New Zealand in both steam and
sail including being wrecked on the
Hokianga.
Not a political book, but the story of how your
beliefs and adherence to your core values can
get you through the harshest environments and
the toughest of times. Part autobiography; part
family memoir; the book tells the story of the
time that John McCain spent in a Vietnam
prisoner of war camp, the men around him and
the endurance of their beliefs.
“Glory belongs to the act of being constant to
something greater than yourself, to a cause, to
your principles. No misfortune, no injury, no
humiliation can destroy it. This is the faith that
my commanders affirmed, that my brothers-inarms encouraged my allegiance too… It was
my father and grandfather’s faith. A filthy,
broken man, all I had left of my dignity was the
faith of my fathers. It was enough”.
Grant Howard gives a concise account of
the life of such a fine New Zealand
Seaman.
24
Application of
MACore Values
Sole Survivor – One Man’s Journey
Author: Norma Hudson
Many books had previously been
published describing Norma Hudson's
father's story of survival but it was only in
2005 when Norma's parents passed away
and their family home was finally sold that
she found a wealth of material in her
father's wooden naval 'ditty' box that
provided the documentary evidence of his
remarkable life. It is from these diaries,
notes and letters and the stories from
other seaman, family, friends and
colleagues that Norma wrote this book.
When 20-year-old Able Seaman Norman
Walton found himself consigned to the
burning, oily sea for the third time in the
winter of 1941, he must have felt that
intense burst of panic that comes with the
shocking realisation that against the vast
indifference of nature, one man’s hopes
and dreams count for nothing – unless he
survives.
In a short space of time the young man,
who was a submarine-detecting Asdic
operator, had had two small vessels sunk
from under his feet by German divebombers.
“Twice within a few months in 1941 I was
sunk, each time our ship being hit by
those damned Stuka bombers which
seemed to be everywhere in those days.
Each time I was in the water for only a few
hours before being picked up,” he later
recollected.
During the evacuation of British and
Commonwealth troops from Crete, his
ship HMS Orion had been attacked with
hundreds of casualties and fatalities. He
had survived these experiences, as he
had survived naval engagements in
Norwegian waters between April and May,
1940.
And then on December 19, 1941, his ship,
the cruiser HMS Neptune, got caught in an
Italian minefield. The mines were laid at a
depth of 70 fathoms. Just after midnight
the first mine exploded. In all, four of them
blew the ship apart. The order to abandon
ship was given at about 2am. Other mines
exploded under the cruiser Aurora and the
destroyer Kandahar, eventually sinking the
latter.
Three Royal Navy attack ships, based in Malta
to disrupt convoys of tanks, fuel and supplies to
Rommel’s Afrika Corps, had been removed
from active operations. Hundreds of men were
killed or wounded; but the most grievous loss of
all belonged to the 6,700-ton HMS Neptune.
The circumstances surrounding the loss of all
but one of Neptune’s 766 multi-national crew
(more than 200 of whom were from New
Zealand, South Africa, the Irish Republic and
Australia) were kept secret. Next-of-kin merely
received a telegram stating that their husband
or son was “missing on active service”. There
was no publicity.
Norman Walton’s will to survive stayed with him
through the remainder of the war. He was a
prisoner-of-war until 1943 when he was
released. Back in England he married his
sweetheart, Irene, and returned to active
service. He was transferred to convoy duty on
the terrible runs to Murmansk, and later went
back to the Mediterranean.
25
Application of
MACore Values
North Sea Warrior / War by Stealth
Author: Gerry Wright
“North Sea Warrior” tells the story of
Lieutenant Commander Jim Macdonald
who was New Zealand’s most highly
decorated naval officer of World War II.
“A War by Stealth” profiles Lieutenant
Wally Drake who may have sunk more
enemy ships than any other New
Zealander in World War II, and did so
without firing a shot in anger.
Jim Macdonald commanded Motor
Torpedo Boats, and soon earned a
reputation as a daring and innovative
officer. As a Sub-Lieutenant and Secondin-Command of MTB31 he was awarded
his first Distinguished Service Cross (DSC)
in March 1942. He was also the youngest
man to command one of the King’s fighting
ships.
Later, in Command of MTB241 he fought
nine actions in four months and was
awarded a Bar to his DSC. In September
1943 he was promoted to Lieutenant, and
at the age of 22 became the youngest
officer to command a flotilla of MTBs.
Jim Macdonald was awarded a second
Bar to his DSC in July 1944 for his
performance in two actions, and in seven
successful mine-laying operations. In July
1944 he attempted to sink a heavily armed
German transport with three MTBs until it
made safety of the harbour. While
returning to his base, he discovered a
second convoy and pressed home a
successful attack, despite the risk of
enemy air attack during broad daylight. He
was awarded the Distinguished Service
Order (DSO) for this action. He was twice
mentioned in despatches and as one of
the most highly decorated New
Zealanders of the war Jim Macdonald was
regarded as an “Ace” of coastal forces.
He was awarded a Distinguished Service Cross
(DSC) in July 1944.
New Zealand is a small and young nation with a
well researched and documented naval history.
These two new books – A War by Stealth and
North Sea Warrior will go a long way towards
providing long overdue recognition for the
stories of two of our most famous naval heroes.
Another notable New Zealander operating
in coastal waters during the War was
Walter Drake. As First Lieutenant, and
later Commanding Officer of Motor Launch
106 and finally senior officer of the 51st
ML Flotilla, Lieutenant Walter Charles
Drake, DSC, RNZNVR took part in thirty
four successful mine-laying operations in
enemy waters off the Dutch coast in the
North Sea.
26
Application of
MACore Values
27
Application of
MACore Values
It Worked for Me: In Life and Leadership
War Diaries: 1939-1945
Author: Field Marshal Lord Alonbrooke
Author: Colin Powell
It Worked for Me is filled with vivid
experiences and lessons learned that have
shaped the legendary public service career
of the four-star general and former
Secretary of State Colin Powell.
At its heart are Powell's Thirteen Rules;
notes that he gathered over the years and
that now form the basis of his leadership
presentations given throughout the world.
Powell's short but sweet rules, among
them, "Get mad, then get over it" and
"Share credit", are illustrated by revealing
personal stories that introduce and expand
upon his principles for effective leadership:
conviction, hard work, and, above all,
respect for others. In work and in life,
Powell writes, "it's about how
we touch and are touched by
the people we meet. It's all
about the people."
A natural storyteller, Powell offers warm and
engaging parables with wise advice on
succeeding in the workplace and beyond.
"Trust your people," he counsels as he
delegates presidential briefing responsibilities
to two junior State Department desk officers.
"Do your best, someone is watching," he
advises those just starting out, recalling his
own teenage summer job mopping floors in a
soft drink bottling factory.
Powell combines the insights he has gained
serving in the top ranks of the military and in
four presidential administrations with the
lessons he's learned from his immigrant-family
upbringing in the Bronx, his training in the
ROTC, and his growth as an Army officer. The
result is a powerful portrait of a leader who is
reflective, self-effacing, and grateful for the
contributions of everyone he works with.
Colin Powell's It Worked for Me is bound to
inspire, move, and surprise readers.
Thoughtful and revealing, it is a brilliant and
original blueprint for leadership.
For most of the Second World War,
General Sir Alan Brooke (1883–1963), later
Field Marshal Lord Alanbrooke, was
Britain's Chief of the Imperial General Staff
(CIGS) and Winston Churchill's principal
military adviser, and antagonist, in the inner
councils of war.
He is commonly considered the greatest
CIGS in the history of the British Army. His
diaries are one of the most important and
the most controversial military diaries of the
modern era. Beginning in September 1939,
the diaries were written up each night in the
strictest secrecy and against all regulations
The last great chronicle of the Second
World War, they provide a riveting blow-byblow account of how the war was waged
and eventually won.
Alanbrooke's mask of command was
legendary but these diaries tell us what he
really saw and felt: moments of triumph
and exhilaration, but also frustration,
depression, betrayal, and doubt. They
expose the gulf between the military and
the politicians of the War Cabinet, and
how often military strategy was misguided
and nearly derailed by political prejudices.
They also reveal the incredible strain on
Alanbrooke of the Allied conferences in
Washington,
Moscow,
Casablanca,
Quebec, and Tehran, as he tried after
intense and exhausting argument to
match Allied strategy with the reality of
British military power and the fragility of
the British Empire.
The Diaries pull no punches. Through
razor-sharp assessments of politicians,
commanders, strategy and battlefield
performance, Alanbrooke presents the
muscle, sinew, and nervous system of war.
28
Leadership / Critical
Thinking
MA
The Introverted Leader: Building on
your Quiet Strength
Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead
Author: Sheryl Sandberg
Author: Colin
In our extroverted culture, introverts
can Powell
The book provides numerous examples and
feel
excluded,
overlooked,
or leadership tips as well as a revealing Quiz
misunderstood. But being an introvert that pinpoints where focused attention will
doesn't mean you can't be a great leader. produce maximum results, The Introverted
Citing examples of highly successful Leader will teach you to embrace your
leaders like Bill Gates and Warren Buffett, natural work style in order to advance your
Kahnweiler shows that introverts can build career, get the most out of the people around
on their quiet strength and make it a source you, and add value to your organization.
of great power.
The Introverted Leader offers a practical
After highlighting the common challenges approach to and leadership that allows
introverts face at work, such as stress, introverts to have their invaluable voices
invisibility, and perception gaps, the book heard.
details a straightforward four-step process
to handle work situations such as
managing up, leading projects, public
speaking, and many more. Kahnweiler
provides
numerous
examples
and
leadership tips as well as a revealing
Introverted Leader Quiz that pinpoints
where focused attention will produce
maximum results, "The Introverted Leader"
will teach you to embrace your natural work
style in order to advance your career, get
the most out of the people around you, and
add value to your organization.
Ask most women whether they have the right
to equality at work and the answer will be a
resounding yes, but ask the same women
whether they'd feel confident asking for a
raise, a promotion, or equal pay, and some
reticence creeps in.
Learning to 'lean in' is about tackling the
anxieties and preconceptions that stop
women reaching the top – taking a place
at the table, and making yourself a part of
the discussion.
The statistics, although an improvement on
previous decades, are certainly not in
women's favour – of 197 heads of state, only
twenty-two are women. Women hold just 20
percent of seats in parliaments globally, and
in the world of big business, a meagre
eighteen of the Fortune 500 CEOs are
women.
In Lean In, Sheryl Sandberg – Facebook
COO and one of Fortune magazine's Most
Powerful Women in Business – draws on her
own experience of working in some of the
world's most successful businesses and
looks at what women can do to help
themselves, and make the small changes in
their life that can effect change on a more
universal scale.
29
Thinking
MA
Leaders Eat Last.
The Trident: The Forging and Reforging of a
Navy SEAL Leader
Author: Jason Redman
Author: Simon Sinek
Leaders Eat Last is the highly anticipated
follow up to Simon Sinek's global bestseller
Start With Why Imagine a world where
almost everyone wakes up inspired to go to
work.
This is not a crazy, idealised notion. In
many successful organisations, great
leaders are creating environments in which
teams trust each other so deeply that they
would put their lives on the line for each
other. Yet other teams, no matter what
incentives were offered, are doomed to
infighting, fragmentation and failure. Why?
Today's workplaces tend to be full of
cynicism, paranoia and self-interest. But
the best organisations foster trust and
cooperation because their leaders build
what Sinek calls a Circle of Safety. It
separates the security inside the team from
the challenges outside. Everyone feels
they belong and all energies are devoted to
facing the common enemy and seizing big
opportunities
As in Start with Why, Sinek illustrates his
ideas with fascinating true stories, from the
military to manufacturing, from government
to investment banking.
He shows that leaders who are willing to
eat last are rewarded with deeply loyal
colleagues who will stop at nothing to
advance their vision. It's amazing how well
it works.
Decorated US Navy SEAL lieutenant Jason
Redman served his country courageously and
with
distinction
in
Colombia,
Peru,
Afghanistan, and Iraq, where he commanded
mobility and assault forces. He conducted over
forty capture/kill missions with his men in Iraq,
locating more than 120 al-Qaida insurgents.
But his journey was not without supreme
challenges, both emotional and physical.
Redman is brutally honest about his struggles
to learn how to be an effective leader, yet that
effort pales beside the story of his critical
wounding in 2007 while leading a mission
against a key al-Qaida commander. On that
mission his team was ambushed and he was
struck by machine-gun fire at point-blank
range.
From his gruelling SEAL training to his
search for a balance between arrogance
and humility, Redman shares it all in this
inspiring and unforgettable account. He
speaks candidly of the grit that sustained
him despite grievous wounds, and of the
extraordinary love and devotion of his
wife, Erica, and his family.
Vivid and powerful, emotionally resonant
and illuminating.
During the intense recovery period that
followed, Redman gained national attention
when he posted a sign on his door at the
National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda,
warning all who entered not to "feel sorry for
[his] wounds." His sign became both a
statement and a symbol for wounded warriors
everywhere.
30
Thinking
MA
Vital Voices: The Power of Women Leading
American Spartan
Change Around the World
Author: Ann Scott Tyson
Author: Alyse Nelson
Women's progress is global progress.
Where there is an increase in women's
university enrolment rates, women's
earnings, and maternal health, and a
reduction in violence against women, we
see more prosperous communities,
better educated, healthier families, and
the preservation of equal human rights.
Yet globally, women remain the most
consistently under-utilized resource.
"Vital Voices" calls for and makes
possible
transformative
leadership
around the world.
In Vital Voices, CEO Alyse Nelson
shares the stories of remarkable, worldchanging women, as well as the story of
how Vital Voices was founded, crossing
lines that typically divide. For 15 years,
Vital Voices has brought together
women who want to enable others to
become change agents in their
governments, advocates for social
justice, and supporters of democracy.
They equip women with management
and business development skills to
expand their enterprises and create jobs
in their communities.
Their voices, stories, and hard-earned
lessons--shared here for the first time--are
deeply authentic and truly vital. The book
features interviews and first-person accounts
of global leaders, such as Ellen Johnson
Sirleaf, president of Liberia, and Aung San
Suu Kyi, Nobel Prize-winning Burmese prodemocracy leader, as well as business
leaders.
The book also draws on the work of the Vital
Voices, the organization founded by Hillary
Clinton in 1997 as a government initiative that
transformed into a leading non-profit, which
enables a network of 10,000 emerging
women leaders in politics, human rights, and
economic development in 127 countries.
These women have gone on to mentor and
train more than 500,000Focuses on the key
elements of the Vital Voices five-step model
of transformational leadership, including how
to find a voice, lead with purpose, cross lines
that
divide,
and
more.
Through the first hand accounts of trailblazing leaders, "Vital Voices" introduces
unforgettable, inspiring women who are
shaping our world.
Lawrence of Arabia meets Sebastian Junger's
War in this unique, incendiary, and dramatic
true story of heroism and heartbreak in
Afghanistan written by a Pulitzer Prize–
nominated war correspondent.
Some have called him "Lawrence of
Afghanistan." To the Pashtun tribesmen he is
"Commander Jim," leader of the "bearded
ones." He is Army Special Forces Major Jim
Gant, one of the most charismatic and
controversial U.S. commanders of modern
memory, a man who changed the face of
America's war in Afghanistan when his critical
white paper, "One Tribe at a Time," went viral
at the Pentagon, the White House, and on
Capitol Hill in 2009.
He argued that we could earn the trust of
the Afghans and transform them into a
reliable ally with whom we could defeat
the Taliban and Al Qaeda networks. The
military's top brass approved the plan and
gave Jim the go-ahead to embark on the
mission.
A war story like no other, an
unprecedented account of a warrior who
took up the cause of villagers as if it were
his own, and of a woman on the front lines
of a distant war, American Spartan is an
unforgettable tale—and one of the most
remarkable and emotionally resonant
narratives of war ever published.
A decorated Green Beret who had spent years
training indigenous fighters, Jim argued for
embedding autonomous units with tribes
across Afghanistan: these American soldiers
would live among Afghans for extended
periods, not only to train and equip tribal
militias, but to fight and even die alongside
them in battle.
31
Thinking
MA
High Command: British Military Leadership
Leadership Blindspots
in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Author: Robert Bruce Shaw
Author: Christopher Elliot
From 2001, Britain supported the United
States in wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
'Victory' in such conflicts is always hard
to gauge and domestic political backing
for them was never robust.
Critics have noted that the armed
services were riven by internal rivalry
and their leadership was dysfunctional,
but the truth is more complicated. In his
book, General Elliott explores the
circumstances that led to these wars and
how the Ministry of Defence coped with
the challenges presented.
He reveals how the Service Chiefs were
set at odds by the system, almost as
rivals in the making, with responsibility
diffuse and authority ambiguous. The
MoD concentrated on making things
work, rather than questioning whether
what they were being asked to do was
practicable. Often the opinion of a junior
tactical commander led the entire
strategy of the MoD, not the other way
around, as it should have been
While Britain's senior officers, defence
ministers and civil servants were undeniably
competent and well intentioned, the
conundrum remains why success on the
battlefield proved so elusive.
Knowledge is built from personal experience
and coloured by our needs and values. It
follows that all knowledge is personal and
incomplete. We all suffer from 'blind spots'. But
when leaders have them, it matters. To guide
people on a journey of continuous learning,
understanding and adapting to events as they
occur, leaders must overcome their own blind
spots and those of their organization.
.
Any leader who implements the practices
outlined in this book will immediately improve
their ability to perform in today's competitive
global environment. Karen Blakeley provides
in-depth analysis of how leaders learn on the
job - and what gets in the way. Most
importantly she offers a systematic approach
for accelerating leaders' learning capacity and maximising their performance potential
32
Thinking
MA
Developing Women Leaders
Author: Anne Marie Valerio
Developing Women Leaders answers the
question "How do we best develop women
leaders?" with practical solutions drawn
from current literature and the author's
personal interviews with high-achievers in
major US companies and universities.
The book presents research-based,
practical solutions to help people in
organizations develop talented women and
describes
what
organizations
and
individuals need to know about leadership
competencies, personality, and leadership
styles.
Explains gender-related issues that affect
the behaviours of both women and men at
work. Integrates first-hand accounts by
high-achieving women and men from major
companies and universities about their
leadership experiences.
Separate chapters addressed to CEOs and
HR executives, managers, and women
offer practical suggestions to implement in
their organizations, using examples from
some 'best practice' companies.
An excellent resource for women, and men.
The author has synthesized decades of
research and theory into this well written, and
very practical book. The book considers the
complex challenges and opportunities that
women have in organizations, and that
organizations have as they endeavour to
recruit, retain and develop talented leaders at
all levels. Women, and men, at any stages of
their careers and in any role in any kind of
organization, will benefit from the hard work
the author has done in creating this invaluable
guide to women leaders, which combines clear
descriptions with applicable and relevant
prescriptions
Blake: Leader: Leadership Lessons
From a Great New Zealander
Author: Mark Orams
New Zealand lost one of its favourite sons
when Sir Peter Blake was shot and killed in
the Amazon in late 2001. Sir Peter Blake
(Blakey) became a icon after leading New
Zealand to victory in the 1995 and 2000
America's
Cups,
following
earlier
successes in the Whitbread Round the
World Race and Jules Verne Challenge.
His accomplishments demonstrate his skill
at assembling, managing and leading
winning teams.
For many reasons other than just sailing,
Sir Peter was an outstanding New
Zealander. His sailing skills go without
question but few would truly understand the
impact that he had on many people’s lives
because of the way he approached and
applied Leadership.
Blake: Leader is written by sailor and
marine scientist Dr Mark Orams, who sailed
around the world with Blake and worked
with him at Team New Zealand and
Blakexpeditions. In this book he looks at
Blake's successful style of leadership from
a personal viewpoint. It mixes
reminiscences and anecdotes from Orams
and other sporting and business figures
who worked closely with Blake with
practical observations of how he chose
and led teams
Break-out boxes and chapter summaries
highlight key points and techniques that
can be used by leaders and team
members in a wide range of sports and
business situations. Chapters include
building a great team, being a great
leader, encouraging a great work ethic
and having a winning attitude. It also
examines the unique New Zealand style
of leadership demonstrated by other great
Kiwi leaders and how Blake's legacy can
be taken into the future
There are many similarities with Sailing
Teams and the Navy that jump out at you
with each chapter in this book. The
Mantra of “will it make the boat go faster?”
can easily be altered to read ‘will this
make the Navy better?” without any loss
of message. This is one of the best books
you can read to fully understand what Sir
Peter Blake provided to New Zealand
33
Thinking
MA
Black Hearts: One Platoon's
Descent Into Madness in Iraq's
Triangle of Death
Turn the Ship Around!: A True Story of
Turning Followers into Leaders
Hardcover
Author byJim Frederick
Author: David Marquet
John J Pershing: “A competent leader can
get efficient service from poor troops, while
on the contrary, an incaple leader can
demoralise the best of troops”
This book is not in the list because it
provides examples of excellent leadership,
it is in the list because it provides graphic
and stark evidence of what can happen in
the absence of leadership.
This is the story of a small group of soldiers
from the 101st Airborne Division’s fabled
502nd Infantry Regiment—a unit known as
“the Black Heart Brigade.” Deployed in late
2005 to Iraq’s so-called Triangle of Death,
a veritable meat grinder just south of
Baghdad, the Black Hearts found
themselves in arguably the country’s most
dangerous location at its most dangerous
time. Hit by near-daily mortars, gunfire, and
roadside bomb attacks, suffering from a
particularly heavy death toll, and enduring
a chronic breakdown in leadership,
members of one Black Heart platoon—1st
Platoon, Bravo Company, 1st Battalion—
descended, over their year-long tour of
duty, into a
tailspin of poor discipline, substance abuse,
and brutality. Four 1st Platoon soldiers would
perpetrate one of the most heinous war crimes
U.S. forces have committed during the Iraq
War.
Black Hearts is an unflinching account of the
epic, tragic deployment of 1st Platoon.
Drawing on hundreds of hours of in-depth
interviews with Black Heart soldiers and firsthand reporting from the Triangle of Death,
Black Hearts is a timeless story about men in
combat and the fragility of character in the
savage crucible of warfare. But it is also a
timely warning of new dangers emerging in the
way American soldiers are led on the
battlefields of the twenty-first century
“Leadership should mean giving control
rather than taking control and creating
leaders rather than forging followers.”
David Marquet, an experienced Navy
officer, was used to giving orders. As newly
appointed captain of the USS Santa Fe, a
nuclear-powered submarine, he was
responsible for more than a hundred
sailors, deep in the sea. In this high-stress
environment, where there is no margin for
error, it was crucial his men did their job
and did it well. But the ship was dogged by
poor morale, poor performance, and the
worst retention in the fleet. Marquet acted
like any other captain until, one day, he
unknowingly gave an impossible order, and
his crew tried to follow it anyway. When he
asked why the order wasn’t challenged, the
answer was “Because you told me to.”
Marquet realized he was leading in a
culture of followers, and they were all in
danger unless they fundamentally changed
the way they did things That’s when
Marquet took matters into his own hands
and pushed for leadership at every level.
Turn the Ship Around! is the true story of
how the Santa Fe skyrocketed from worst
to first in the fleet by challenging the U.S.
Navy’s traditional leader-follower
approach. Struggling against his own
instincts to take control, he instead
achieved the vastly more powerful model
of giving control.
Before long, each member of Marquet’s
crew became a leader and assumed
responsibility for everything he did, from
clerical tasks to crucial combat decisions.
The crew became fully engaged,
contributing their full intellectual capacity
every day, and the Santa Fe started
winning awards and promoting a highly
disproportionate number of officers to
submarine command.
No matter your business or position, you
can turn your own ship around. The
payoff: a workplace where everyone
around you is taking responsibility for their
actions, where people are healthier and
happier, where everyone is a leader.
34
Thinking
MA
The Non-commissioned Officer and
Petty Officer: Backbone of the
Armed Forces
Bleeding Talent: How the US Military
Mismanages Great Leaders and Why
It's Time for a Revolution
Author: Various
(National Defence University Press)
Author: Tim Kane
Whilst this is a book developed by and for
the Senior Non Commissioned ranks of the
US Defence Department it provides
similarities galore to those that wear the
cloth of our Nation.
All of us who have served in uniform—from the
newest recruits to four-star generals and
admirals—have respected and learned from
the outstanding men and women who wear the
chevrons, anchors
The Non-commissioned Officer and Petty
Officer: Backbone of the Armed Forces.
book is touted as a developmental and
educational tool and although focusing on
non-commissioned officer and petty officer
force, it provides messaging for a much
wider audience. In the promo material
SMAJ Battaglia (The Senior Enlisted
Advisor to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs
of Staff) is quoted:
and stripes of our non-commissioned officer
and petty officer corps. We know them to have
exceptional competence, professional
character, and soldierly grit—they are
exemplars of our Profession of Arms.
“The NCO and petty officer corps would not
have become what it is today without the
trust and confidence of commissioned
officers, and that's what's inside the covers
of this book.”
The opening paragraph of this book
provides the foundation of the remainder of
this well written resource:
The Joint war fighting section has plenty of
useful and quotable gems:
This book will shape the debate on how to
save the military from itself. The first part
recognizes, indeed celebrates, what the
military has done well in attracting and
developing leadership talent. The book
then examines the causes and
consequences of the modern military's
stifling personnel system, with a close look
at strategic failures in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The book also reports a new survey of
active duty officers (done by the author)
that reports what is driving the best and
brightest to leave the service in frustration.
Solutions round out the book, grounded in
an economic emphasis on market forces
"The Navy culture is a deployment culture—
deployments form the rhythm of Navy life for
the Sailors and for their families. If “home is
where the heart is,” then many, perhaps most,
Sailors have two homes, one with family and
friends ashore, and the other with shipmates
on deployment. The often harsh nature of the
operating environment at sea forces the Navy
to a culture of self-reliance."
This is an enjoyable read and available from
the NDU website.
35
Thinking
MA
It’s Your Ship: Management
Techniques from the Best Damn
Ship in the Navy
Author: Captain D. Michael Abrashoff
"The most important thing a captain can do
is to see the ship from the eyes of the
crew." This belief has successfully guided
D. Michael Abrashoff, the captain of one of
the U.S. Navy's most modern and lethal
warships.
Abrashoff has revolutionized how to handle
such challenging problems as excessive
costs, low morale, sexual harassment, and
constant turn-over. Business managers will
benefit from Abrashoff's guiding belief that
focus should be on empowering your
people rather than on chain of command.
By shifting organizing principles from
obedience to performance, managers will
be rewarded with remarkable productivity.
As Abrashoff explains, the more people
enjoy the process, the better the results.
Good leaders listen to the people under
their command-and use their ideas to
improve operating procedures.
As commander of the highly acclaimed USS
Benfold, Captain D. Michael Abrashoff
irrefutably demonstrated how progressive
management can succeed at sea; in It's Your
Ship, he translates his methods into an
approach that can also be applied by landbound captains of commerce and industry.
Describing "the ideas and techniques that I
used to win my sailors' trust and, eventually,
their enthusiastic commitment to our joint goal
of making our ship the best in the fleet,"
Abrashoff cites embarrassing failures along
with subsequent triumphs to illuminate the
keys to his accomplished 20-month tenure
aboard the guided missile destroyer. His
suggestions: lead by example; listen
aggressively; communicate purpose and
meaning; create a climate of trust; look for
results, not salutes; take calculated risks; go
beyond standard procedure; build up your
people; generate unity; and improve your
people's quality of life.
While hardly original on the surface,
Abrashoff's course should provide practical
direction and inspiration for any leader
hoping for similarly positive results in
similarly rigid organizations Abrashoff’s
reflections provide a fresh outlook and
guide for leaders everywhere. It is full of
common sense tips and refreshing stories.
Other recommended reads by D. Michael
Abrashoff:
It’s Our Ship: The No-Nonsense Guide to
Leadership
Get Your Ship Together: How Great
Leaders Inspire Ownership From The Keel
Up.
Other than the sobering fact that real lives
are regularly at stake, running a navy ship
is a lot like running a business: leaders of
both must get the most out of their crews to
operate at peak efficiency and complete
the tasks at hand.
36
Thinking
MA
Destroyer Captain - Lessons of a
First Command
Navy Strategic Culture: Why the Navy
Thinks Differently
Author: Admiral James Stavridis
Author: Roger W Barnett
“Destroyer Captain – Lessons of a First
Command" is a day-by-day account of the
activities of a ship and its crew written by a
current 4 Star Admiral of the United States
Navy. The memoir was written during
Admiral Stavridis’ two years in Command
of USS Barry (DDG 52), 1993 – 1995.
When you first see the title, you think this
book is just for PWO’s and those that
aspire to Command at sea. It is for them
but it is also for anyone that goes down to
sea in ships or has an interest in raw ‘coal
face’ leadership. The book provides
tremendous detail about the inner workings
of a modern Destroyer but it’s the
underlying messages of leadership and
empowerment throughout the book that will
grasp your my attention from the outset.
The importance of needing the whole crew
involved in the team building that is
necessary to run a Navy combatant. Even
arguably one of the most successful and
capable officers in the US Navy today has
doubts and insecurities from time to time,
and his methods of dealing with those
insecurities are well documented and
written with honesty, humility, and humour.
A book that attempts to provide an
explanation behind the reasons why Naval
personnel think differently from their Air and
Army counterparts is sure to be an
interesting read for those of us that go
down to the sea in ships.
Whilst written from a USN perspective
(Roger W Barnett retired from the USN as a
Captain), the book does offer several useful
insights in what shapes our thinking. The
book provides sound context to our
environment and its ability to influence our
actions. The book is a useful read up to
Chapter 8, unfortunately and for reasons
unknown though, the author reverts to
almost archaic views on the employment of
women and persons of alternative
preferences. It would be a sad and tragic
Navy if this book from Chapter 9 onwards
was a true reflection of how we think.
If you can resist the temptation, skip the
final chapter skim the conclusion and then
enjoy the myriad of Naval Quotations that
complete the book.
37
Thinking
MA
The Guinness Book of Naval
Blunders
Joker One: A Marine Platoon’s Story of
Courage Leadership, And Brotherhood
Author: Donovan Campbell
The obvious statement that “Naval Author:
Blunders generally have a finality that is
not achieved on land” opens this
entertaining yet informative book about the
impact of incompetence of Naval Strategy.
The book documents the series of self
imposed disasters that the Russian Fleet
overcame during it’s 18,000 mile journey to
destruction at the hands of the Japanese;
explores the concept of ineffective ship
designs such as the Admiral Popov, a
revolutionary circular battleship that
couldn't steer straight and investigates just
how a British cruiser managed to torpedo
itself in the Arctic.
From Roman times to the Falklands War,
bestselling author Geoffrey Regan sets out
to prove that there is truth in the old adage
"Worse things happen at sea". Crammed
with intriguing and often bizarre anecdotes
and over fifty illuminating illustrations,
Naval Blunders takes a serious, but often
entertaining look at the misjudgements and
oversights of captains, fleet commanders,
strategic planners and ship designers over
the ages.
John
McLean
Peppered
with quotes from those who did their
utmost (albeit unwittingly) to hinder naval
progress, such as Admiral Lord Sir Charles
Beresford who stated, "The submarine can
only operate by day and in clear weather, and
it is practically useless in misty weather", this
entertaining and instructive book will appeal to
the naval enthusiast and general reader alike.
Campbell's compelling story begins in the
middle of a firefight, just after a rocket
attack on an abandoned hotel that
Campbell and his men were using as an
observation position. Surrounded by rubble,
choking dust, and pieces of exploded
rockets, with a friendly machine gun firing
full-bore a few feet away, Lieutenant
Campbell calls in his position, burns his
fingers on the still-searing-hot hockey puck
of a warhead, and eventually discovered
that the enemy had failed to kill or wound a
single Marine.
That's just the first six pages
As commander of a forty-man infantry
platoon called Joker One, Campbell had
just months to train and transform a ragtag
group of brand-new Marines into a first-rate
cohesive fighting unit, men who would
become his family
with the chilling cries of “Jihad, Jihad,
Jihad!” echoing from minaret to minaret–
Campbell and company were there to
protect the innocent, battle the insurgents,
and pick up the pieces. After seven
months of day-to-day, house-to-house
combat, nearly half of Campbell’s platoon
had been wounded, a casualty rate that
went beyond that of any Marine or Army
unit since Vietnam. Yet unlike Fallujah,
Ramadi never fell to the enemy.
Told by the man who led the unit of hardpressed Marines, Joker One is a gripping
tale of a leadership, loyalty, faith, and
camaraderie throughout the best and
worst of times
Campbell and his men were assigned to
Ramadi, that capital of the Sunni-dominated
Anbar province that was an explosion just
waiting to happen. And when it did happen
38
Thinking
MA
39
Thinking
MA
History of NZ
Author: Michael King
The Penguin History of New Zealand is a
well written, concise and impartial overview
of New Zealand's History. It's easy to read,
full of interesting facts and anecdotes.
This book is almost a must read for all New
Zealanders, it focuses on our society, how
our style of government developed as well
as our unique blend of culture.
The latter part of the book reveals how an
insulated and dependent British colony
transformed itself into an independent
nation, open to and competing with
technological and cultural influences
sweeping the globe
New Zealand was the last country in the
world to be discovered and settled by
humankind. It was also the first to introduce
a full democracy. Between those events, and
in the century that followed the franchise, the
movements and the conflicts of human
history have been played out more
intensively and more rapidly in New Zealand
than anywhere else on Earth
40
Regional and Cultural
Awareness
MA
Mister Pip
The Kite Runner
Author: Lloyd Jones
Author: Khaled Hosseini
Mister Pip is widely recognized for its literary
worth, having won both the 2006
Commonwealth Writer's Prize for best book
and the 2008 Kiriyama Pacific Rim Book
Prize. It was also a finalist for the 2007 Man
Booker Prize. The quality of the story and
the quality of its telling are excellent. Jones
presents himself as a master storyteller,
using the tale and voice of a young girl
named Matilda. Matilda lives on Bougainville
in the early 1990’s. There are connections to
the outside world; goods arrive by boat,
white men from Australia run the mines, until
civil war comes to her island. Then the boats
stop coming and the white men all leave.
Matilda’s village is left to survive on its own.
When the schoolteacher departs as well, the
only white man left on the island; a strange
man named Mr. Watts, but behind his back
known as Popeye, takes charge of teaching
Matilda and the other children. He is not a
teacher, and his only certainty is that these
children need the routine of school in their
lives, even in the midst of war.
Mr. Watts decides that their education will
consist simply of reading the children his
favourite story; Charles Dickens’ Great
Expectations. And thus begins a voyage of
imagination and translation, as Mr. Watts
explains words like emigrant, metropolis
and immensity, and the children travel in
their minds to 17th century England.
Amidst all of this the war continues, coming
closer and closer to their little village. No
one can predict the dangers that will be
created by Mr. Watt’s reading, by the
children’s flights of imaginations and by
their new friend, Mr. Pip. Matilda finds
every aspect of her world turned upside
down. Not only must she survive the war,
but she must decide where her loyalties lie:
to her mother and family traditions, or to the
newfound trinity of Mr. Watts, Mr. Dickens
and Mr. Pip.
Mister Pip is a fascinating story, flawlessly
told, of a young girl trying to live in the world
of a book, where things make sense and
fate is predetermined, and in the world
around her, where lives are being destroyed
and nothing is certain.
This first Afghan novel to be written in English is an eye-opening stunner. It manages
to tell a very human and immediate
emotional tale while at the same time
opening up whole vistas of national
experience that are both distant to the
average American reader yet strikingly
relevant in light of current events. An epic of
fathers and sons, of friendship and
betrayal, The Kite Runner begins in the
1970s, during the final days of
Afghanistan’s monarchy, then proceeds
through years of Soviet invasion, to the
atrocities of the Taliban, to the turmoil of the
present. An unforgettable, heartbreaking
story of the unlikely friendship between a
child of wealth and a child of the
underclass, this is an exquisitely crafted
work of fiction set in a land in the process of
being destroyed. It is about friendship,
betrayal, and redemption, set against the
turbulent backdrop of Afghanistan during
the past 30 years. The author, Khaled
Hosseini, was born in Kabul, the son of a
diplomat who received political asylum in
the United States in 1980.
This, his debut book, garnered uniformly
enthusiastic reviews, including that of the
New York Times: “In Kite Runner, Khaled
Hosseini gives us a vivid and engaging
story that reminds us how long his people
have been struggling to triumph over the
forces of violence, forces that continue to
threaten them even today.”
Here is a book that manages to be both
rewarding modern fiction and a valuable
crash-course in the mindset and challenges
of a troubled country—a country whose
destiny is now intertwined with our own. As
an insight into the Afghan experience, this
is an invaluable read.
41
Awareness
MA
The Great Wall at Sea: China’s Navy
Enters the Twenty-first Century
The Elephant and the Dragon: The Rise of
India and China and What It Means for All
of Us
Author: Bernard D. Cole
Author: Robyn Meredith
With the world’s largest population, largest
army, and fastest growing economy, China is
now in the process of building a large
modern navy to assure its status as Asia’s
predominant power. Yet, to date, the West
has had sorely limited knowledge of what
could become its greatest naval opponent.
This major study, the first in more than
fifteen years, provides timely, authoritative
information about China’s developing navy
and its quest for power. The author, a
professional at the National War College and
a retired captain in the U.S. Navy, first helps
the reader understand China’s 2,000 yearold maritime tradition. He then examines
China’s extensive territorial claims at sea
and follows up with a path-breaking
description of the nation’s increasing
dependence on energy sources mined from
the ocean floor. At the book’s core is an
examination of China’s navy in detail, its
organization as well as the submarines,
ships, and airplanes that make up its
seagoing force.
The book also discusses the personnel who
man the growing fleet and Beijing’s efforts
to shape them into professionally capable
and politically reliable officers and sailors.
Of key interest are China’s future plans for
its navy, including doctrine and operations.
China’s naval developments are explained
within the context of national goals and the
international arena.
An urgent exploration of the earth-tilting
emergence of India and China on the world
stage, The Elephant and the Dragon is the
essential guide to understanding how India
and China are reshaping our world. In a
compelling mix of history and on-the-ground
reporting, a veteran journalist cuts through
the alarmist hype surrounding globalization,
off-shoring, and layoffs, untangling the
complex web of business, politics, and
culture that entwines India, China, and the
West. In lively prose, the author, who writes
on India and China for Forbes, examines
the looming shadows of Gandhi and Mao
that help explain not just the past, but also
how the future is unfolding for India and
China. It is one of hyper-connected world
trade that, whether carried by container
ships or fibre-optic cables, promises to
reshape the world. Her book contends that
China’s development will continue to
outpace India’s and that wealth transferred
overseas will benefit the U.S. in the long
run.
42
Awareness
MA
Not Enough Room to Swing a Cat: Naval
Slang and it’s everyday usage
Blue Ocean Strategy: How to Create
Uncontested Market Space and Make the
Competition Irrelevant
Author: Martin Robson
Author: W. Chan Kim, Renee Mauborgne
Those of us that go down to the sea in ships
have heard and regularly use the phrases:
cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass
monkey; the Oggin, three sheets to the wind
and scuttlebutt. We may use them in casual
conversation but do we really know what the
phrase originally referred to?
We have traditions, culture and sayings that
are almost alien to non-naval types; in fact it
was not so long ago that the naval
community had its own language,
incomprehensible to anyone who was not a
sailor.
This book explains most of the common
saying and introduces a few that you
probably have never heard of, there are
even some illustrations in case the
explanation is not clear…..it also provides a
rather handy explanation of the origin of our
favourite Nicknames for our shipmates.
This book provides a compilation of naval
slang from across the globe and through
the ages, accordingly a number of the
phrases explained are clearly no longer
acceptable in the modern Navy. Use
common sense in their usage. Whilst the
phrases presented are a part of our history
you do not need to be a dab hand in their
usage, lest they be an albatross round your
neck for the future and there’ll be the devil
to pay.
Other recommended reads about Naval
Jargon:
Jackspeak: The Pusser's Rum Guide to
Royal Navy Language
by Rick Jolly & Tugg.
First and foremost this is a business book,
first written in 2005. The blue ocean
metaphor elegantly summarizes a vision of
competitor free markets that innovative
organisations can navigate. Unlike the well
explored ‘red oceans’, ‘blue oceans’ offer
an opportunity for growth. The book
suggests that the only reason more
organisations target blue oceans is that the
focus of strategy work over recent times
has been on finding new ways to cut costs
and grow revenue by taking away market
share from the competition - operating red
ocean strategies.
Based on 15 years of research, the authors
used 150 successful strategic moves
spanning 120 years of business history and
across 30 industries to bring the Blue
Ocean Strategy theory to life. Using dozens
of examples; from Southwest Airlines and
the Cirque du Soleil to Curves and
Starbucks, they present the tools and
frameworks they've developed specifically
for the task of analyzing blue oceans.
43
Awareness
MA
44
Awareness
MA
Whatcha Gonna Do With That Duck
The Moment You Cant Ignore: When Big
Trouble Leads to a Great Future.
Author: Seth Godin
Author:Malachi O’Connor and Barry Dornfeld
'Getting your ducks in a row is a fine thing to do.
But deciding what you are going to do with that
duck is a far more important issue'
Seth Godin is famous for bestselling books such
as Purple
Cow and
cool
entrepreneurial
ventures such as Squidoo and the Domino
Project. But to millions of loyal readers, he's
best known for the daily burst of insight he
provides every morning, rain or shine, via Seth's
Blog.
Since he started blogging in the early 1990s, he
has written more than two million words and
shaped the way we think about marketing,
leadership, careers, innovation, creativity, and
more. Much of his writing is inspirational and
some is incendiary.
Collected here are six years of his best, most
entertaining, and most poignant blog posts, plus
a few bonus ebooks. From thoughts on how to
treat your customers to telling stories and
spreading ideas, Godin pushes us to think
smarter, dream bigger, write better, and speak
more honestly.
Godin writes to get under our skin. He
wants us to stand up and do something
remarkable, outside the standards of the
industrial system that raised us.
Seth Godin is the author of thirteen
international bestsellers that have changed
the way people think about marketing, the
ways ideas spread, leadership and change
including Permission
Marketing, Purple
Cow, All
Marketers
are
Liars, The
Dip and Tribes. He is the CEO of
Squidoo.com and a very popular lecturer.
His blog, www.sethgodin.typepad.com, is
the most influential business blog in the
world, and consistently one of the 100 most
popular blogs on any subject.
The surgical technician ducks as a stapler
flies past his head during the concluding
moments of a lengthy and difficult operation.
The high-powered, internationally known
finance guru seeks to turn fortunes around
at the university of which he is now
president, and finds himself a leader without
followers.
The powerful satraps silently sabotage the
CEO’s desperately needed growth initiative.
These are “moments that cannot be
ignored”, events that stop people in their
tracks and make it blindingly clear that an
organization is stuck and unable to move
forward. They have become regular
occurrences in today’s world as new forms
of work, communication, and technology
expose the ways in which an organization’s
culture, or “the way we do things around
here”, conflicts with new competitive
demands. The result: telling incidents, all
too visible elephants in the room that reveal
underlying conflicts as well as hidden
assets.
In The Moment You Can’t Ignore,
Malachi O’Connor and Barry Dornfeld
tell fascinating “you are there” stories of
people and organizations as they
encounter and then navigate through
and
beyond
these
un-ignorable
moments, and show what we can learn
from them. They outline the big
questions organizations need to ask
themselves about identity, leadership,
and the capacity to innovate that an
understanding of culture can help
answer, and deliver powerful insights
into recognizing and harnessing hidden
assets that point in the direction of a
new future.
In our age of porous organizations and
constant change, The Moment You
Can’t Ignore demonstrates that the
adage, “culture eats strategy for lunch,”
is more relevant now than ever.
45
Strategy Management /
MAOrganisational Change
Winning the Story Wars
What Got You Here, Won’t Get You
There: How Successful People
Become Even More Successful,
Author: Jonah Sachs
Author:Marshall Goldsmith
Trying to get your message heard? Build an
iconic brand?
Welcome to the battlefield.
The story wars are all around us. They are the
struggle to be heard in a world of media noise
and clamour. Today, most brand messages and
mass appeals for causes are drowned out
before they even reach us. But a few
consistently break through the din, using the
only tool that has ever moved minds and
changed behavior—great stories.
With insights from mythology, advertising
history, evolutionary biology, and psychology,
viral storyteller and advertising expert Jonah
Sachs takes readers into a fascinating world of
seemingly insurmountable challenges and
enormous opportunity. Winning the Story
Wars is a call to arms for business
communicators to cast aside broken traditions
and join a revolution to build the iconic brands of
the future. It puts marketers in the role of heroes
with a chance to transform not just their craft but
the enterprises they represent.
Through this book, you’ll discover how:
• Social media tools are driving a return to
the oral tradition, in which stories that
matter
rise
above
the
fray
• Marketers have become today’s
mythmakers,
providing
society with
explanation,
meaning,
and
ritual
• Memorable stories based on timeless
themes build legions of eager evangelists
• Marketers and audiences can work
together to create deeper meaning and
stronger partnerships in building a better
world
• Brands like Old Spice, The Story of Stuff,
Nike, the Tea Party, and Occupy Wall
Street created and sustained massive viral
buzz
America’s most sought-after executive
coach shows how to climb the last few
rungs of the ladder. The corporate world is
filled with executives, men and women who
have worked hard for years to reach the
upper levels of management. They’re
intelligent, skilled, and even charismatic. But
only a handful of them will ever reach the
pinnacle -- and as executive coach Marshall
Goldsmith shows in this book, subtle
nuances make all the difference. These are
small "transactional flaws" performed by one
person against another (as simple as not
saying thank you enough), which lead to
negative perceptions that can hold any
executive back. Using Goldsmith’s
straightforward, jargon-free advice, it’s
amazingly easy behaviour to change
Success in the story wars doesn’t come
just from telling great stories, but from
learning to live them.
46
The Invisible Gorilla: And Other Ways
Our Intuitions Deceive Us
Maverick
Author: Christopher Chabris, Daniel Simons
Author: Ricardo Semler
Reading this book will make you less sure of
yourself—and that’s a good thing. In The Invisible
Gorilla, Christopher Chabris and Daniel Simons,
creators of one of psychology’s most famous
experiments, use remarkable stories and
counterintuitive scientific findings to demonstrate
an important truth: Our minds don’t work the way
we think they do. We think we see ourselves and
the world as they really are, but we’re actually
missing a whole lot
Again and again, we think we experience and
understand the world as it is, but our thoughts are
beset by everyday illusions. We write traffic laws
and build criminal cases on the assumption that
people will notice when something unusual
happens right in front of them. We’re sure we
know where we were on 9/11, falsely believing
that vivid memories are seared into our minds
with perfect fidelity. And as a society, we spend
billions on devices to train our brains because
we’re continually tempted by the lure of quick
fixes and effortless self-improvement.
The Invisible Gorilla reveals the myriad
ways that our intuitions can deceive us, but
it’s much more than a catalogue of human
failings. Chabris and Simons explain why
we succumb to these everyday illusions
and what we can do to inoculate ourselves
against their effects. Ultimately, the book
provides a kind of x-ray vision into our own
minds, making it possible to pierce the veil
of illusions that clouds our thoughts and to
think clearly for perhaps the first time.
Chabris and Simons combine the work of
other researchers with their own findings on
attention, perception, memory, and
reasoning to reveal how faulty intuitions
often get us into trouble.
First published in Brazil in 1988 as
Turning the Tables, this book was the alltime best-selling non-fiction book in
Brazil's history. Semler, the 34-year-old
CEO, or "counselor," of Semco, a
Brazilian manufacturing firm, describes
how he turned his successful company
into a "natural business" in which
employees hire and evaluate their bosses,
dress however they want, participate in
major decisions, and share in 22 percent
of the profits. Semler believes that Semco
is different from most companies that
have participatory management because
employees are given the power to make
decisions--even ones, with which the CEO
wouldn't normally agree. Semler claims,
"This is not a business book. It is a book
about work, and how it can be changed
for the better."
47
Leading Change
Good to Great: Why Some Companies
Make the Leap, and Others Don't
Author: John P. Kotter
Author: Jim Collins
Leading Change is a truly accessible, clear and
visionary guide to the business world's buzzword for
the late '90s change. This is excellent business
manual, introducing a comprehensive eight-step
framework that can be followed by executives at all
Author: John P.
levels.
Kotter advises those who would implement change
to foster a sense of urgency within the organisation.
"A higher rate of urgency does not imply everpresent panic, anxiety, or fear. It means a state in
which complacency is virtually absent." Twenty-first
century business change must overcome over
managed and under led cultures. "Because
management deals mostly with the status quo and
leadership deals mostly with change, in the next
century we are going to have to try to become much
more skilled at creating leaders." Kotter also
identifies pitfalls to be avoided, like "big egos and
snakes" or personalities that can undermine a
successful change effort. Kotter convincingly argues
for the promotion and recognition of teams rather
than individuals.
He aptly concludes with an emphasis on
lifelong learning. "In an ever changing
world, you never learn it all, even if you
keep growing into your '90s."
Kotter
Leading Change is a useful tool for
everyone from business students
preparing to enter the work force to
middle and senior executives faced with
the widespread transformation in the
corporate world.
Other recommended read by John
Kotter:
Our Iceberg is Melting
The Heart of Change
A Sense of Urgency
Five years ago, Jim Collins asked the Peppered with dozens of stories and
question, "Can a good company become a examples from the great and not so
great company and if so, Author:
how?" Gerry Wright
great, the book offers a well-reasoned
road map to excellence that any
In Good to Great Collins, the author of organization would do well to consider.
Built to Last, concludes that it is possible, Like Built to Last, Good to Great is one
but finds there are no silver bullets. Collins of those books that managers and
and his team of researchers began their CEOs will be reading and rereading for
quest by sorting through a list of 1,435 years to come.
companies, looking for those that made
substantial
improvements
in
their
performance over time. They finally settled
on 11 and discovered common traits that
challenged many of the conventional
notions of corporate success.
Making the transition from good to great
doesn't require a high-profile CEO, the
latest technology, innovative change
management, or even a fine-tuned
business strategy. At the heart of those
rare and truly great companies was a
corporate culture that rigorously found and
promoted disciplined people to think and
act in a disciplined manner.
Other recommended read
by Jim Collins:
Built to Last: Successful
Habits
of
Visionary
Companies
48
The 7 Habits of Highly Effective
People
Author: Stephen R. Covey
The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, first
published in 1989, is a self-help book written by
Stephen R. Covey. It has sold over 15 million copies
in 38 languages since first publication, which was
marked by the release of a 15th anniversary edition
in 2004. Covey presents an approach to being
effective in attaining goals by aligning oneself to
what he calls "true north" principles of a character
ethic that he presents as universal and timeless.
This best-seller continues to attract new followers
with its useful pointers to living the successful life.
The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People is an
integrated, holistic approach to solving personal and
professional problems by becoming “principlecentred.” This is a revolutionary guidebook to
achieving peace of mind within and building trust
without by seeking the roots of human behaviour in
character and by learning principles rather than
merely practices. With pointed anecdotes and
penetrating insights, Stephen Covey reveals how
our actions follow from who we are.
Self-defeating behaviour, at home or at
work, can be eradicated by following the
“habits” of the title. Covey shows how
these habits are not a “quick fix” but
rather a step-by-step pathway to the
principles of fairness, integrity, honesty,
and human dignity that give us the
security to adapt to change in our family
and business lives—as well as the
wisdom and power to take advantage of
the opportunities such change creates.
What elevates Covey’s work above the
crowded field of personal-development
books, and what makes it a standout
selection from said field for the military
professional, is the importance the
author places on character; “character”
as opposed to “personality.” And, while
the seven habits are universally
applicable, they include, among others,
“Be proactive,” “Begin with the end in
mind,” “Think win/win,” and “Seek first to
understand, then to be understood”, they
also provide a useful roadmap for a
successful military career.
The Fifth Discipline: The Art and
Practice of the Learning Organisation
Author: Peter M, Senge
The Fifth Discipline focuses on group
problem solving using the systems
thinking method in order to convert
companies into learning organizations.
The five disciplines represent approaches
(theories and methods) for developing
three core learning capabilities: fostering
aspiration, developing reflective
conversation, and understanding
complexity.
The five disciplines of the learning
organization discussed in the book are:
"Personal mastery is a discipline of
continually clarifying and deepening our
personal vision, of focusing our energies,
of developing patience, and of seeing
reality objectively."
“Mental models are deeply ingrained
assumptions, generalizations, or even
pictures of images that influence how we
understand the world and how we take
action."
"Building shared vision a practice of
unearthing shared pictures of the future
that foster genuine commitment and
enrolment rather than compliance."
"Team learning starts with dialogue, the
capacity of members of a team to
suspend assumptions and enter into
genuine thinking together."
Systems thinking - The Fifth Discipline
that integrates the other 4: "Systems
thinking also needs the disciplines of
building shared vision, mental models,
team learning, and personal mastery to
realize its potential. Building shared
vision fosters a commitment to the long
term. Mental models focus on the
openness needed to unearth
shortcomings in our present ways of
seeing the world. Team learning
develops the skills of groups of people
to look for the larger picture beyond
individual perspectives. And personal
mastery fosters the personal motivation
to continually learn how our actions
affect our world."
49
The Black Swan: The Impact of the
Highly Improbable
Author: Nassim Nicholas Taleb
Our brains are wired for narrative, not statistical
uncertainty. And so we tell ourselves simple stories
to explain complex thing we don't (and, most
importantly, can't) know. The truth is that we have
no idea why stock markets go up or down on any
given day, and whatever reason we give is sure to
be grossly simplified, if not flat out wrong.
(diligently trying to follow the path of the
"millionaire next door,” when
unrepeatable chance is a better
explanation). Instead, the really
important events are rare and
unpredictable. He calls them Black
Swans, which is a reference to a 17th
century philosophical thought
experiment. In Europe all anyone had
Nassim Nicholas Taleb first made this argument in
ever seen were white swans; indeed, "all
Wright
Fooled by Randomness, an engagingAuthor:
look at Gerry
the
swans are white" had long been used as
history and reasons for our predilection for selfthe standard example of a scientific truth.
deception when it comes to statistics. Now, in The
So what was the chance of seeing a
Black Swan: the Impact of the Highly Improbable,
black one? Impossible to calculate or at
he focuses on that most dismal of sciences,
least they were until 1697, when
predicting the future. Forecasting is not just at the
explorers found Cygnus atratus in
heart of Wall Street, but it’s something each of us
Australia.
does every time we make an insurance payment or
strap on a seat belt.
Nassim argues that most of the really big
events in our world are rare and
The problem, Nassim explains, is that we place too
unpredictable, and thus trying to extract
much weight on the odds that past events will
generalised stories to explain them may
repeat
be emotionally satisfying, but it's
practically useless. September 11th is
one such example, and stock market
crashes are another. Or, as he puts it,
"History does not crawl, it jumps." Our
assumptions grow out of the bell-curve
predictability of what he calls
"Mediocristan," while our world is really
shaped by the wild power law swings of
Extremistan."
But Taleb takes this to a new level with a
delightful romp through history,
economics, and the frailties of human
nature.
50
51
Rogue Avenger
The Cruiser
Author: John. R. Monteith
Author: David Poyer
Book 1 of the Rogue Submarine Series.
The accident changed everything... One
moment, Lieutenant Jake Slate was going
about his duties aboard the ballistic missile
submarine, USS "Colorado." The next
second, he was sprawled on the deck
plates in a spreading puddle of blood and
hydraulic fluid. But it wasn't the injury that
ruined his life and doomed his military
career. It was the rescue effort.
Now he's being thrown to the wolves to
cover up the misdeeds of a superior officer,
and Jake doesn't care for the role of
sacrificial lamb.
Blinded by rage and unsure of his future, he
finds himself at the centre of a treacherous
plot to hijack the "Colorado" and sell her
nuclear warheads to a foreign power. Jake
no longer knows who he can trust. He
doesn't know what the future holds. He
really only knows one thing. He "will" have
his revenge
For fans of Tom Clancy, Joe Buff, and
Michael DiMercurio
Newly-promoted to Captain, Dan Lenson's
first glimpse of his command is of a ship
literally high and dry. The USS Savo Island,
which carries a classified, never-beforedeployed missile defence system, has run
aground on an exposed sandbar off
Naples. Captain Lenson has to relieve the
ship's disgraced skipper and deploy on a
secret mission—Operation Stellar Shield—
which will take his ship and crew into the
dangerous waters bordering the Middle East.
As a climate of war builds between Israel and
Iraq, with threats of nuclear and chemical
weapons, Dan has to rally Savo Island’s
demoralized crew, confront a mysterious
death on board ship, while learning to
operate a complex missile system that has
not been battle tested. But when the conflict
reaches a climax, Dan is forced to make a
decision that may cost hundreds of
thousands of innocent lives—or may save
them, but at the cost of his ship and his
career.
Filled with dramatic sea adventure, authentic
weapons and technology.
The Cruiser is the fourteenth novel to
feature Dan Lenson in military service that
carries him throughout the world.
Other Titles in the Dan Lenson Series::
The Gulf
The Med
The Circle
The Passage
Tomahawk
China Sea
Black Storm
The Command
Korea Strait
The Threat
The Weapon
The Crisis
The Towers
Poyer began writing in 1976 and up until
2011 has published almost 33 novels,
some of which are required reading
at Annapolis, and he is called "the most
popular living author of American sea
fiction"
52
Naval MA
Fiction
Diamondhead
The Hornblower Series
Author: Patrick Robinson
Author: C. S. Forester
When Navy SEAL Mack Bedford’s fellow
officers are brutally killed by Iraqi insurgents
using a cruel, new, anti-tank Diamondhead
missile, Mack avenges their murders by
gunning down the then-unarmed attackers,
ultimately getting himself court-martialed
and kicked out of the Navy in the process.
To make matters worse, Mack then learns
that the Diamondhead missiles were sold
illegally by French industrialist and
infamous politician Henri Foche. Mack
suspects that Foche will succeed in his
campaign to become the next French
president and fears that his election will
promote the spread of international
terrorism.
In addition, Mack has a gravely ill son
whose life can only be saved with an
experimental and unaffordable foreign
medical procedure. So when Mack is asked
to help assassinate Henri Foche, he finds
himself agreeing. His reward: a chance at
survival for both his son and the country.
But before Mack can reach Foche, a jilted
mercenary group warns the Frenchman of
the threat, greatly increasing the difficulty of
Mack’s solo assassination attempt. Can
Mack track down and murder the French
tyrant as he has been commissioned to do?
Does he have the power to restore his
reputation as a Navy SEAL? And will he be
able to save his son before it’s too late?
Also in the Navy Seal Lt. Commander Mack
Bedford series:
Intercept
The Delta Solution
Power Play
Titles in Chronological order:
Mr Midshipman Hornblower,
Lieutenant Hornblower,
Hornblower and the Atropos,
Hornblower and the Hotspur,
The Happy Return,
A Ship of the Line,
Flying Colours,
The Commodore,
Lord Hornblower, and
Hornblower in the West Indies.
Forester wrote this highly popular series of
novels about Horatio Hornblower and his rise
through the ranks of the British Navy during
the Napoleonic era. For readers who have
not met Hornblower before, Mr Midshipman
Hornblower is the best of introductions to a
classic character in English fiction who has
endeared himself to millions. Hornblower
rises to the challenges that confront him
whether they are partaking in a duel;
commanding a prize ship full of rice which
slowly forces open the ship’s seams;
attempting to overthrow the French Republic;
attacking the infamous
Spanish Galleys used in the becalmed, flat
waters of the Mediterranean; or being
caught in a thick fog bank with the
terrifying realisation that he had sailed
forward into the middle of the enemy fleet.
The 1951 movie ‘Captain Horatio
Hornblower’ stars Gregory Peck as the
valiant Napoleonic era naval hero, adapted
for the screen by Hornblower’s creator
C.S. Forester. The movie has all the
hallmarks of the novels. More recently, the
BBC TV series provide a better coverage
of young Hornblower’s progress, including
a warts and all view of life at sea in the
19th century.
53
Naval MA
Fiction
Sharpes Trafalgar
Author: Bernard Cornwell
Nobody describes bloody battle scenes
better than Cornwell, and even he outdoes
himself with this riveting novel about the
epic naval battle off Spain's Cape Trafalgar
in 1805. This is but one story in his popular
Napoleonic War series about Richard
Sharpe, a brutish yet admirable soldier in
the British army. Sharpe's Trafalgar is a
historical novel by Bernard Cornwell, a
Sharpe adventure in a different setting.
Cornwell blends Sharpe's history into this
greatest of Britain's sea triumphs. Sharpe
meets a new set of characters, rogues,
rascals and heroes, including a personal
meeting with Lord Nelson. He also has a
love affair and plays a major role in the
battle. Even though it is highly unlikely that
a character such as Sharpe could have
been at the Battle of Trafalgar, Cornwell
makes his presence there plausible.
For military-history buffs, Bernard
Cornwell's Sharpe novels are the literary
equivalent of potato chips: you can't read
just one. And in this case, why would you
want to? Blending meticulous research and
old-fashioned entertainment, the series
follows the roguish adventurer Richard
Sharpe as he swashbuckles his way
through the Napoleonic Wars. In Sharpe's
Trafalgar, the author ventures into Patrick
O'Brian's maritime territory. Anchors
aweigh, lads, and bring on the detailed
descriptions of the ship's guns and their
firing mechanisms!
The absence of technology in these stories
gives them an air of elegance that is often
missing in the youth of today. The common
causes that led to men going down to the
sea in ships 200 years ago are prevalent
today but the seduction of technology
occasionally overlooks the fact.
Other recommended reads by Bernard
Cornwell:
The following is the correct 'historical' order
of the Sharpe series, although they are all
stand alone stories:
Sharpe's Tiger: The Siege of
Seringapatam, 1799
Sharpe's Triumph: The Battle of Assaye,
September 1803
Sharpe's Fortress: The Siege of
Gawilghur, December 1803
Sharpe's Trafalgar: The Battle of Trafalgar,
October 1805
Sharpe's Prey: The Expedition to
Copenhagen, 1807
Sharpe's Rifles: The French Invasion of
Galicia, January 1809
Sharpe's Havoc: The Campaign in Northern
Portugal, Spring 1809
Sharpe's Eagle: The Talavera Campaign,
July 1809
Sharpe's Gold: The Destruction of
Almeida, August 1810
Sharpe's Escape: The Bussaco
Campaign, 1810
Sharpe's Fury: The Battle of Barrosa,
March 1811
Sharpe's Battle: The Battle of Fuentes
de Oñoro, May 1811
Sharpe's Company: The Siege of
Badajoz, January to April 1812
Sharpe's Sword: The Salamanca
Campaign, June and July 1812
Sharpe's Enemy: The Defense of
Portugal, Christmas 1812
Sharpe's Honour: The Vitoria
Campaign, February to June 1813
Sharpe's Regiment: The Invasion of
France, June to November 1813
Sharpe's Siege: The Winter
Campaign, 1814
Sharpe's Revenge: The Peace of
1814
Sharpe's Waterloo: The Waterloo
Campaign, 15 to 18 June
1815Sharpe's Devil: The Emperor,
1820–21
54
Naval MA
Fiction
HMS Ulysses
Choosers of the Slain
Author: Alistair MacLean
Author: James H. Cobb
This is one of the best novels of its type and
is a brilliant piece of descriptive writing. It is
an account of the trials and tribulations of
the crew of the fictional HMS Ulysses. This
light cruiser is the flagship of an escort
carrier group protecting convoys to Russia
during WWII. The story is bleak but
fascinating, and the dark and terrible side of
naval combat is brought to the fore.
MacLean’s use of powerful imagery
illuminates a compelling book.
It's 2006, and Commander Amanda Lee
Garrett has just taken charge of a top-secret
Stealth-type U.S. Navy warship. She's never
been in action, but her learning curve--and
our own level of reading excitement--rapidly
accelerates when Argentina decides to take
back some territory it used to own in
Antarctica. Commander Garrett is a
wonderfully rich character dropped into a
totally plausible dilemma, and James H.
Cobb is good at making the intricate details
of high-tech weaponry both fascinating and
accessible.
Cobb brings feminism and environmentalism
to the naval thriller and does it remarkably
well in this lightning-paced and well-informed
tale of a lone U.S. destroyer holding off an
Argentine incursion into Antarctica. Amanda
Garrett captains the USS Cunningham, a
stealthy, well-armed vessel with the best
technology available in the year 2006. The
ship is on patrol off Antarctica when a
surprise invasion by Argentina(seeking
mineral wealth and prepared to abrogate
existing international treaties) leaves her as
the
only defence for treaty partners and for the
ecologically fragile continent itself. As
captain, Amanda uses her seamanship
and her knowledge of the talents of her
staff in a breathtaking sea battle fought in
one of the most challenging environments
on earth. Cobb not only demonstrates his
control of action and plot but also
incorporates intriguing military and political
topics that couldn't be timelier. Best of all,
he allows Amanda to command her ship as
a woman not as a manly soul in a woman's
body. Her strengths are a willingness to
listen to all points of view, respect for each
participant, even-handed consideration of
proposals and, finally, firm and objective
decision-making. This is the rare military
thriller whose message is gender-blind and
leading-edge.
Other recommended reads by James H
Cobb:
Sea Strike
Sea Fighter
Target Lock
55
Naval MA
Fiction
Tiger Cruise
Nimitz Class
Author: Douglas Morgan
Author: Patrick Robinson
The Strait of Malacca is the busiest
shipping lane in the world . . . and it's a nest
of pirates. These days, they're using
modern methods. The USS Cushing is
coming home from the Persian Gulf on a
course through the Straits. It's a good ship,
a Spruance-class destroyer: lean, fast, and
armed to the teeth, with a few Special
Weapons in her hold. But there's a major
typhoon coming her way. Worse, the
Cushing's been assigned to carry a batch of
Tigers (civilians: family members), from
Diego Garcia to Yokosuka.
Three seemingly unrelated happenings set
the stage for drama. First, in the eastern
Mediterranean Sea, a young fisherman
discovers the body of a drowned sailor.
Second, underneath the surface of the
Bosporus, a Russian diesel submarine
secretly makes its way toward the Middle
East to carry out a plan masterminded by
Benjamin Adnam, an Israeli citizen. Third, the
USS Thomas Jefferson, a powerful aircraft
carrier manned by a complement of 6000
crew members, patrols the waters of the
Indian Ocean.
When, under cover of the storm, the
Cushing is boarded and cut off from her
battle group, only the bravery of a few
Americans aboard stands between those
ruthless pirates and her Special Weapons.
Making matters worse, the Australian navy
has an idea what's up, and they have their
own nation's security to worry about. All of
which adds up to a deadly three-cornered
game in which the men and women of the
Cushing will have to contend with both their
enemies and their allies-and with the sea
itself-if they ever want to see home again.
Suddenly, her blip vanishes from the radar
screens of the other warships in her battle
group. The ensuing investigation of her
disappearance uncovers a sinister plot of
brilliance and intrepid execution. The
characters are lifelike and convincing,
especially Lt. Commander Bill Baldridge, the
Pentagon's primary sleuth looking into the
mystery. He works closely with Admiral Sir
Iain MacLean, a retired submarine flag officer
of the Royal Navy.
A few errors of naval rank and military
history pop up at the start of this book
about a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier
suddenly vaporized by a nuclear weapon
fired from a terrorist controlled submarine.
Don’t be put off, keep reading and enjoy
this Tom Clancy-like explosion of technical
trivia and plot twists.
This book is the first in a series of Maritime
Thrillers.
Other recommended reads by Patrick
Robinson:
Kilo Class
HMS Unseen
Seawolf
The Shark Mutiny
Barracuda 945
Scimitar SL-2
Hunter Killer
Ghost Force
To the Death
56
Naval MA
Fiction
Phoenix Sub Zero
The Hunt for Red October
Author: Michael DiMercurio
Author: Tom Clancy
In the near-future imagined in this brisk,
hardware-packed techno-thriller, the United
Islamic Front of God, comprised of 30
Islamic nations, is losing its world war with
the Western Coalition, comprised of
European countries and the U.S. To turn
the tide, the Front resorts to its ultimate
weapon: a plutonium bomb to be launched
at Washington, D.C., from the Hegira, a
Japanese-designed sub seemingly superior
to any other under the high seas. As the
Hegira breaks into the Atlantic in order to
close in on its target, one American sub is
sunk and another is crippled, leaving the
fate of the West in the hands of Mike
Pacino, captain of the American sub
Seawolf , and the badly damaged USS
Phoenix , whose commander, David
"Sugar" Kane, refuses to abandon the hunt.
Former submariner DiMercurio (Attack of
the Seawolf) conveys without melodrama
the horror of undersea warfare, with death
in a hundred forms always a hand's-breadth
away. He is also a master of submarine
technology, rivalling Tom Clancy in his
ability to make technical details
comprehensible to general readers.
Here, in true techno-thriller fashion, the
computers, torpedoes and propulsion
systems carry the exciting story from first
pages to last, where Seawolf and Hegira
engage to decide the future of the world.
Somewhere under the Atlantic, a Soviet sub
commander has just made a fateful decision:
the Red October is heading west. The
Americans want her. The Russians want her
back. And the most incredible chase in
history is on....
The Hunt for Red October is the runaway
bestseller that launched Tom Clancy's
phenomenal career, it is a military thriller so
accurate and convincing that the author was
rumoured to have been debriefed by the
White House. Its theme: the greatest
espionage coup in history. Its story: the
chase for a runaway top secret Russian
missile sub.
This is the story of Soviet submarine Captain
Marko Ramius who seeks to defect to the US
with a billion dollar present, and of Dr Jack
Ryan the US Intelligence analyst who is
trying to understand what is going on. The
Hunt for Red October is the first in a series of
novels to popularise the real-to-life genre,
and is also the first fiction that the US Naval
Institute has knowingly or admittedly
published.
You’ve seen the movie, now read the book
and find out how the story really went
before Hollywood got their hands on it.
Other recommended reads by Tom
Clancy:
Red Storm Rising
Patriot Games
Clear and Present Danger
Cardinal of the Kremlin
The Sum of All Fears
Debt of Honor
Executive Orders
Without Remorse
Rainbow Six
The Bear and the Dragon
Red Rabbit
The Teeth of the Tiger
57
Naval MA
Fiction
Master and Commander
Author: Patrick O’Brian
This, the first in the splendid series of
historical novels depicting the Age of
Fighting Sail, establishes the friendship
between Captain Jack Aubrey, RN, and
Stephen Maturin, ship’s surgeon and
intelligence agent, against a thrilling
backdrop of the Napoleonic wars. Details of
a life aboard a man-of-war are faultlessly
rendered: the conversational idiom of the
officers in the ward room and the men on
the lower deck, the food, and the floggings,
the mysteries of the wind and the rigging,
and the roar of broadsides as the great
ships close in battle. It is the dawn of the
19th century; Britain is at war with
Napoleon’s France. When Jack Aubrey, a
young lieutenant in Nelson’s navy, is
promoted to captain, he inherits command
of HMS Sophie, an old, slow brig unlikely to
make his fortune. But Captain Aubrey is a
brave and gifted seaman, his thirst for
adventure and victory immense. With the
aid of his intrepid friend Maturin, Aubrey
and his crew engage in one thrilling battle
after another, their journey culminating in a
stunning clash with a mighty Spanish frigate
against whose guns and manpower
the tiny Sophie is hopelessly outmatched.
Jack Aubrey is a literary icon, and this
book, which serves as the launch for all the
other (also recommended) adventures in
this well-loved series, establishes what is at
the core of the character’s appeal: He has
all the qualities of naval leadership to which
any officer in any navy would aspire.
Other recommended reads by Patrick
O’Brian:
Master and Commander (1970)
Post Captain (1972)
H.M.S. Surprise (1973)
The Mauritius Command (1977)
Desolation Island (1978)
The Fortune Of War (1979)
The Surgeon's Mate (1980)
The Ionian Mission (1981)
Treason's Harbour (1983)
The Far Side Of The World (1984)
The Reverse Of The Medal (1986)
The Letter Of Marque (1988)
The Thirteen Gun Salute (1989)
The Nutmeg Of Consolation (1991)
The Truelove (1992)
The Wine-Dark Sea (1993)
The Commodore (1995)
The Yellow Admiral (1996)
The Hundred Days (1998)
Blue At The Mizzen (1999)
The Final, Unfinished Voyage of Jack Aubrey
58
Naval MA
Fiction
The Cruel Sea
The Caine Mutiny
Author: Nicholas Monsarrat
Author: Herman Wouk
A powerful novel of the North Atlantic in
World War II, The Cruel Sea is the story of
the British ships Compass Rose and
Saltash and of their desperate cat-andmouse game with Nazi U-boats. First
published to great acclaim in 1951 (the New
York Times called it “fascinating and
compelling”), The Cruel Sea remains a
classic novel of endurance and daring.
Author Nicholas Monsarrat drew upon his
own wartime experiences to bring a gritty
realism to the story, capturing all the dread
and danger of convoy-escort duty in the
Battle of the Atlantic. Following first one
vessel, then the other, through the years
1939 to 1945, events are viewed mainly
through the eyes of Lockhart, an idealistic
young recruit at the outset, a hardened
veteran by the end. Another main character
is Lockhart’s commanding officer, Ericson,
a bona fide naval professional largely surrounded by civilians-turned-sailors in the
exigencies of wartime.
The stoic endurance and professionalism of
these crews as they battle the largely
unseen enemy, and confront the
implacable, often deadly sea, make for
gripping, timeless fiction. And it can make
the modern reader ponder, how would they
stack up, in their situation?
The Caine Mutiny, for which Herman Wouk
was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1952, is a
contemporary classic, a novel of World War II
that seized the imagination of a country
recovering from the ravagements of a
devastating war in a manner unlike any work
of American fiction before or since. Its
characters have become a vital part of our
literary history; its story has taken root in the
memory of a nation. A towering achievement,
and perhaps the world’s best-loved drama of
the sea and its sailors, The Caine Mutiny was
a New York Times bestseller for more than
two and a half years. It has sold millions upon
millions of copies in the 50-plus years since it
was first published. Each new generation of
naval readers needs to rediscover this
timeless masterpiece: the legendary tale of
Captain Queeg and the unforgettable mutiny
aboard the USS Caine.
It has been used in classrooms where it
has sparked intense arguments over
questions of loyalty and integrity, the
responsibility of a crew to its captain, and
of loyalty up and down the chain of
command.
While it’s a classic of the literature of the sea,
The Caine Mutiny is also a classic study aid
in critical thinking.
59
Naval MA
Fiction
60
Naval MA
Fiction

DSWT Blank - Royal New Zealand Navy

Transcription

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