Coram’s new book, his sixteenth, shows a time when newspapers were at high tide and pushed all other media aside; it shows a time when the writing life was a good life and could be an exciting life.
Here we see Coram’s pile-driving determination, his love of writing, and his reverence for the written word.
Most of all the book shows obstacles overcome, challenges met, and dreams realized.
In this incandescent memoir, Robert Coram tells how a rough-edged boy escaped from a nowhere little town in rural southwest Georgia and became an accomplished writer.
Recent Review from CounterPunch
Way off in the southwest corner of Georgia, where that state, Alabama, and Florida come together, there’s a constellation of small towns that exist only to serve the farms that surround them. Peanut country. Edison is one of them. There were no Interstate highways when Robert Coram was growing up in Edison, and when they were built, the closest was 60 miles away. Television did arrive before the big highways, and on a good day, and with a tall antenna, you could pick up two stations. …….read more.
Scott flew in China during World War II, came home in January, 1943, and in three days wrote the iconic God Is My Co-Pilot. The book still sells today.
The biography contains previously unpublished information about General Claire Lee Chennault, General Joseph Stilwell, Generalissimo and Madame Chiang Kai-shek and more of the out-sized personalities that rotated through the China-Burma-India Theater of World War II.
The biography also contains previously unpublished information about Scott and his roots in Macon, Georgia.
Double Ace is out and the first review is in.
“A provocative, deftly written, and superbly documented biography that is highly recommended for military historians and aviation specialists, general readers, and all libraries.” —Library Journal Starred Review
“A good job of telling Krulak’s story in clear, simple prose. A valuable work.”
The Wall Street Journal.
“Brisk, highly readable, strongly reported biography.”
The Los Angeles Times
“Plainspoken and absorbing. Captures its subject . . . in strokes that are sharp, simple and often funny.”
The New York Times.
“A well-written tale about a complicated yet admirable man.”
The Washington Times
“An unapologetic praise song to the U.S. Marines.”
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
“Powerful, gripping, magisterial.”
The Jewish Georgian
During the course of his military career, Bud Day won every available combat medal, escaped death on no less than seven occasions, and spent 67 months as a POW in the infamous Hanoi Hilton, along with John McCain. Despite sustained torture, Day would not break. He became a hero to POWs everywhere–a man who fought without pause, not a prisoner of war, but a prisoner at war.
Upon his return, passed over for promotion to Brigadier General, Day retired. But years later, with his children grown and a lifetime of service to his country behind him, he would engage in another battle, this one against an opponent he never had expected: his own country. On his side would be the hundreds of thousands of veterans who had fought for America only to be betrayed. And what would happen next would make Bud Day an even greater legend.
Coram’s superb biography of the most decorated living American veteran begins with Bud Day’s Great Plains childhood and takes him through joining the air force, marrying his high-school sweetheart, and flying ever-more-demanding missions in Vietnam. After his luck ran out, he escaped from the first POW camp in which he was interned but was recaptured and endured five years of torture in a second. Retiring with the Medal of Honor, he returned to public life a generation later, launching breach-of-contract suits against the Clinton administration for what he perceived as its bad faith in dealing with Vietnam veterans. Although partially disabled and an ongoing sufferer from PTSD, Day remains active in veterans’ affairs and Republican politics. Coram’s motives for writing the book–see the preface–may raise some eyebrows, but as he did for his previous fighter-pilot biography, Boyd (2002), he has researched thoroughly and written fluently and with sympathy for his subject, an authentic hero worthy of many books.
Roland Green / Booklist
‘Superb…Coram has researched thoroughly and written fluently and with sympathy for his subject, an authentic hero’
BOOKLIST
‘Riveting…A poignant and ultimately inspiring portrait…Day’s military service tale is wide, varied, fraught with drama and jaw-dropping episodes’
AMERICAN SPECTATOR
John Boyd was the greatest fighter pilot in American history. He defeated every pilot who challenged him in less than 40 seconds. But what made Boyd a man for the ages was what happened after he left the cockpit. Boyd made a career of challenging the intractable Pentagon bureaucracy, making enemies and a few devoted disciples who would become known as “The Acolytes.” Boyd transformed the way military aircraft – in particular the F-15 and F-16 – were designed with his revolutionary “Energy-Maneuverability Theory,” fighting the Air Force’s entrenched ideas every step of the way. He then dedicated lonely years to a radical theory of conflict that at the time was mostly ignored, but now is acclaimed as the most influential thinking about conflict since Sun-Tzu.
“Now comes Robert Coram with an entertaining biography . . . Coram is particularly good on the bureaucratic battles fought by Boyd’s disciples . . . the book is full of wonderful material about military culture . . . .”
Wilson Quarterly
“BOYD is essential reading . . . Coram has done a great service by introducing Boyd to the American public.”
Raleigh News & Observer
“Robert Coram’s engrossing biography should definitely be on the bedside tables of all our current military leadership.”
Los Angeles Times Book Review
“This book should be required reading for every American citizen.” Washington Post Book World
“Coram presents a fine, balanced portrait of Boyd the man . . . Coram is sympathetic and admiring though never uncritical. He excels at making clear and comprehensible the complex issues . . . . “
New York Times Book Review
“Coram tells the life story of a brilliant, principled, and uncompromising man.”
Fort Worth Star-Telegram
“. . . riveting biography . . . ”
Register-Pajaronian
“Coram crafts elegant prose with a skilled hand, and his tenacious research leaves no facet of John Boyd’s life unexamined.”
Dothan Eagle
“A fascinating biography . . . Coram’s book is lively, exciting, and entertaining, and often downright hilarious.”
Pax Pulse
“A great read . . .”
Roanoke Times
“. . . meticulously researched book . . .”
San Antonio Express-News
“As Boyd’s biographer, Coram is masterful.”
Military Officer
I have fished for the bass in ponds, lakes, impoundments, rivers, and tidal waters. And I’ve learned much that will help both the beginning angler and the experienced angler.
In this book I want to show you how to eliminate variables and to catch bass at any time of the day and under all conditions. I want to teach you how to catch bass, not only in your home waters, but in any waters. I want to show you how to go from the civilized world to the wild world; how to enter the world of the bass and how to move in that world and be at one with that world.
To go into strange waters and consistently catch bass is proof that you have crossed from your world into the world of a wild creature. You have crossed the line. You have pierced the veil. You have entered another dimension.
From BASS MASTER SHAW GRIGSBY
Robert Coram has been visiting Antigua since 1982, when, as a newspaper reporter, he broke the story that Robert Vesco had found sanctuary on the island. Because of the many times he has revisited the island since then, and because of his exhaustive research and wide-ranging contacts, the State Department once told him, “You are the institutional memory of Antigua. You know more about the island than we do.”
A Woman’s Abusive Past and the Inspiring Dream That Led Her to Rescue the Street Children of Saigon
“Christina Noble is a wonderful and remarkable woman, and she has written a wonderful and remarkable book. I know of no other book that I have read over the past dozen years that affected me as much as Nobody’s Child and left me with the feeling that I shared a great human experience with the writer.”
~Howard Fast
“A heartrending story with a happy ending. Christina Noble’s courage, compassion and love shine on every page. How she triumphed over her own suffering is unforgettable and inspiring testimony to the splendor of the human soul.”
~Nien Cheng, author of Life and Death in Shanghai
“From a horrifying Dublin childhood, a lone woman set out on an incredible crusade to save other lost children half a world away. You will not forget a single step of her remarkable journey.”
~Anne Rivers Siddons