Authors at Sea: Modern American Writers Remember Their Naval Service

By: Robert E. Shenk

Seven Pulitzer Prize winners are among the authors featured in this collection of works by eminent American writers who shared a common experience: service in the U.S. Navy or Coast Guard during World War II. Best-selling novelists, historians, science writers, and journalists, most of these authors are well known--Herman Wouk, James Michener, Alex Haley, Russell Baker, Edward L. Beach, Carl Rowan, Lewis Thomas, Ben Bradlee, Sloan Wilson, C. Vann Woodward, Louis Auchincloss, and Samuel Eliot Morison, to name a few. But readers may not be aware of their wartime service at sea.

The selected authors write about duty on all kinds of ships--from carriers to submarines and LSTs--and service in all theaters and at all periods of the war, from beginning to end. They recount a variety of experiences: flight training, submarine attacks, kamikaze hits, surface engagements, amphibious landings, storms, homesickness, nights on the town, leadership challenges, personality conflicts. Most wrote after years of reflection and decades spent polishing their writing skills.

Filled with humor, hope, sadness, and occasionally wonder, these autobiographical accounts of war at sea are unparalleled in the quality of the writing and the collective scope of the vision.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1557507996
• ISBN13: 9781557507990
• Release Date: November 1996
• Publisher: US Naval Institute Press
• Length: 336 Pages
• Weight: 1.40 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.2" x 6.3" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

First Rate and First Hand Writings

This gem of a small book is a wonderful compilation of reminisences of a few great, not so great, famous and not so famous people who served our nation at sea during war and peace. My favorite is Alex Haley's essay on The Most Unforgettable Character.... This is a great short read, wonderfully informative and chock full of great personal stories.

Very genuine and insightful story-telling

This book appealled to me on several levels due to the fact that I am both a sea-going serviceman and a budding author. I actually bought it for entertainment during my last patrol. I found that a lot of the events and opinions related closely to my own. It is full of action packed, funny, and violent stories of hope, freedom, and honor.