Ford Reviews

Garrett Hongo, The River of Heaven (Knopf, 1988)

Hongo's second book of poetry was the Lamont Poetry Selection for 1987, an award which usually lends a great amount of buzz to a poet for a very short time. Hongo, unfortunately, is no expection, and not long after this book's release, he slid back into the relative obscurity afforded most of the country's top poets.

Hongo mostly writes in, and excels at, narrative form; a forgotten art in the Eliot-influenced American culture of the latter half of the twentieth century. Unlike most narrative poets, Hongo is willing to take the time to remember what poetry is while telling his story, and never lapsing into more prosaic sentence structure while still getting his points across. An example (I opened the book at random to pick it; seldom is a book of poetry good enough throughout to do that) from the middle of the poem "Morro Rock":

And I knew a girl once
who lived near there,
and whom I'd visit,
hitching north, needing her still.
She was the first I'd known
who could sit, oblivious,
still in her long shift,
pull both knees to her arms,
and rock gently in the sand
while a thin foam of sea washed around her.
I'd stand barefoot in the foam
while the ocean percolated around us,
and toss wet handfuls of sand
towards the combers, empty of feeling.
The Rock filled the space behind us.

There's not an unwritten rule of poetic creation not broken in that stanza, and yet Hongo pulls it off without, seemingly, any effort at all. Truly excellent stuff that should never have gone out of print.

I'm quite pleased with this book. It offers a nice balance: uptempo shuffles, instrumentals, ballads, etc. It's hard to fault the accuracy of the tabs, too. Only two details prevent the book from getting the full five-star review. First, it offers nothing from Talk To Your Daughter, which, to my mind, features some of Robben's best blues guitar work. Second, while the tabs are accurate, the book lacks any kind of editoral annotations, introductions, etc. that would address (and help explain to those interested) Ford's sophisticated musical ideas.

I work at this plant. And I have found this book to be an excellent portal to the past history of this still vital complex.

When Henry Ford opened the Rouge it was the largest industrial complex in the world. He had the notion of gathering all of the resources needed to produce his vehicles in the most efficent manner. With a showcase powerhouse, coke ovens, blast furnaces, foundries, open hearth ovens, state of the art assembly lines and a workforce that would peak at 100,000 in its prime, the Rouge had the ability to produce every part of the Model A save the battery. From the raw ores to the finished product the time it took to produce the vehicle was under 24 hours.

The book is filled with an excellent array of pictures of the plant in its prime, and is a must for those people who want the opportunity to be able to see the house that Henry built.

From his showcase powerhouse to the heat of the blast furnaces. And the ship building facilities to the auto assembly lines this is a book for any person who is interested in reliving the complex's past.

Nifty little book to pack along on beach hikes or swimming days. It works well as a field guide, but doesn't stop there, as it includes recipies and craft ideas. The illustrations make identification easy, and the author give us details about each species. Algae are beautiful, and look great framed. Collect your samples, and this book will tell you how to preserve them for an interesting addition to your art or nature collections. This book is too short!

This book focusses on showing students how to learn course material well, and become an "expert" on the subject. Now only will a new wave of knowledge fill your mind, but also the satisfaction of getting good grades. The methods described in this book are especially effective for subjects such as History, Physics, Chemistry, and most high school subjects excluding math. The book does have a math section, but I feel that the advice it gives on the subject does not cut it. Other than that minor point, this book is an excellent read for high school and college students. Some of the topics covered in this book are: Memorization, Mind mapping, Note taking, Expert Questions, and a few other skill sets that will bring you on your way to a successful school career. With the helpful tips mentioned in this book, I was able to increase my already high mark by 5%! I am sure that any student willing to try the methods in this book will surely find the same success and more!

An excellent book on the life of a First Nations chief at the turn of the century. This book was very intersting to read as a Kwakiutl person. (The term used today is Kwakwakawakw) It allowed myself to learn about the daily life of a typical Kwakiutl Chief during the late 1800's and early 1900's when the first "white" settlers arrived and established a fort. The book does have some faults or drawbacks, as the editor/author writes how the Kwakiutl man spoke English, which is not his first language. At some points the diction can be hard to understand. Other than this minor flaw, the book acurately portrays a young man's life and how he must adapt to the changing world around him. Another book on the same subject, but during a later time period (1920s-1960s), to read is "Guests Never Leave Hungry : The Autobiography of James Sewid, a Kwakiutl Indian" Both books are a must read for anyone interested in Aboriginal life as it changed with the coming of "white" settlers.

This is really a nice book. It reads very well and gives a good introduction over major landscape elements in urban and suburban. It also includes background information about the historical development of these landscape elements. That makes it quite easy to understand the urban and suburban landscape in the U.S.. It is one of these books that you read and think "aah, that's why...". A good and cheap present for landscape architects and students (nice paper, layout and format, too).

St Nazaire 1942 is an excellent narrative summary of the famous British commando raid in March 1942. While this raid has been covered in detail in a variety of other books, this latest edition of the Osprey Campaign series adds detailed maps and diagrams that help to make sense of a very confusing night action. However, the author Ken Ford has not followed the standard Osprey Campaign format very closely, which will upset some readers.

Instead of the standard sections on opposing leaders, plans and forces, the author begins with sections that outline the reasons for the raid, the planning phase, training the raiding force, the Royal Naval forces involved, and the enemy. While many details about leaders, tactics and equipment are included in these sections, the information is not as well packaged as usual. Furthermore, the author provides little information on the German perspective; only one leader is detailed and there is little information on Luftwaffe/Kriegsmarine patrols around St Nazaire. German anti-invasion plans and mine defenses are not discussed. Intelligence collection about the target is only mentioned in terms of aerial reconnaissance, with no mention of either Enigma or the French resistance. No formal order of battle information is provided for either side, although much of the data is embedded in the text.

The raid itself is covered in excellent detail, with three sections covering the sea approach, the run up the Loire River and the actual assault. There are three 3-D "Bird's Eye View" maps: the raid at H+10 minutes, the commando attacks in the dockyard and attacks in the Old Town. There are four 2-D maps: the port itself, the route to St Nazaire, the path up the Loire River, and the dockyard targets. In addition, there are three battle scenes depicting HMS Campbeltown charging toward the dock, the demolition of the Pump House and the final breakout attempt. Numerous excellent photographs also complement the text.

The greatest flaw in this volume is the total lack of analysis. While the raid was a brilliant success in terms of the objectives achieved, the virtual destruction of the raiding force needs closer examination. Based more on brawn than brains, the British plan relied primarily on raw courage and luck to gloss over major flaws in the plan. The British raiders were incredibly lucky in passing undetected within 750 meters of German coast defenses around St Nazaire and by the time they were spotted, the Germans could not stop HMS Campbeltown from ramming the dock. However, the British did little to interfere with German coastal defenses other than an ineffectual air raid and crude deception efforts; had the Germans spotted the British ten minutes earlier the raid would probably have ended as an utter failure. Furthermore, the lack of a viable evacuation plan - other than cruising past fully-alerted German defenses in slow, unarmored launches - was a major flaw in the plan. The British were writing the book of how to conduct raids at St Nazaire and they made serious mistakes, fortunately which they learned from.

Another huge mistake, which was one of the great lessons learned from the raid, was that transporting troops into combat in thin-skinned vehicles is a bad idea. Of the 12 motor launches in the raid, 7 were sunk and 3 badly damaged; only 38 of 164 commandos on these launches were landed. British losses in these exposed, unarmored launches were horrific, and remind the modern reader of the similar American mistake in sending troops in thin-skinned vehicles into combat in Mogadishu in 1993 (and with the same result). There is not much discussion of alternatives to this type of raid and no discussion about lessons learned for future raids. Nor is the effect of the raid on the French population of St Nazaire discussed. Overall, this book is an excellent summary of the raid but the lack of analysis somewhat reduces its value as history.