THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, December 3, 1995 TAG: 9512010498
SECTION: COMMENTARY PAGE: J2 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Book Review
LENGTH: Medium: 67 lines
WAR AT SEA
A Naval History of World War II
NATHAN MILLER
Scribner. 592 pp. $32.50.
One-volume histories about the war at sea in World War II usually are sketchy at best and too general to provide much more than a broad overlook. Nathan Miller's War at Sea: A Naval History of World War II fits part of this description; it makes up for a lack of detail by its clear picture of the broad scope of the war and the relationship of each major action to the overall strategy.
It's also quite readable.
Miller tells us at the beginning that his aim is to treat the sea struggle as a conceptual whole. He also informs that ``the underlying reason for the Allied victory in the war at sea was superior leadership in adversity,'' not ``the overwhelming preponderance of manpower and materiel,'' the usual reason cited for victory.
He writes incisively about ``the two wars against Japan,'' MacArthur's war and the U.S. Navy's war. He describes the development of task forces early in the war. And as he moves from battle to battle, he relates each to the grand strategy while giving a short description of the naval action.
This is a book for readers who don't want to be loaded down with lists of ships and track charts, but do want to tackle an interesting story about the Navy's last great sea battles.
- BILL ROACH
THE 6 MESSIAHS
MARK FROST
William Morrow. 404 pp. $23.
The 6 Messiahs is a historical thriller with more than a touch of the supernatural to it.
Set in the 1890s, the novel is a sequel to The List of 7, in which Mark Frost introduced his protagonist, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, creator of Sherlock Holmes. In this new thriller, Doyle embarks on a lecture tour of America - and uncovers a murder and a plot involving the theft of religious writings and six chosen individuals who share a mysterious dream about a black tower rising in a desert.
The six are certainly an intriguing lot - Kanazuchi, a Japanese holy man; Jacob Stern, a rabbi from New York; Walks Alone, a female Dakota Indian psychic; Peregrine ``Presto'' Raipur, a moneyed, male Indian guru; Doyle's old mentor, Jack Sparks; and the Rev. A. Glorious Day, a preacher with immense psychic power.
Doyle and a small entourage, including Sparks, set out to track down the mysterious disappearance of the religious tomes, includig the ``Book of Zohar,'' entrusted to Rabbi Stern's son. As they proceed from New York to Chicago to Arizona and a ramshackle city in the desert, they are dogged by attempted murders and a polyglot assortment of saviors and sinners. As five of the six ``messiahs'' find each other and wend their way toward the black tower, Frost expertly turns up the thrills and the supernatural aura of the mystery.
- BILL ROACH by CNB