"When Thunder Rolled" review in ASPJ

On Sun, 14 Mar 2004 07:45:47 -0500, Stephen Harding
wrote:

http://www.airpower.maxwell.af.mil/a...v/rasimus.html

"Not much in When Thunder Rolled is new: flying the Thunderchief in
combat over North Vietnam in the mid-1960s was hazardous to one’s

Never quite understood the "nothing new" aspect in a review of a
personal memoir. Don't the reviewers understand the genre?

anti-critic rampage
Should someone come up with secret communiques from General
Giap or LBJ and merge them into the "my experiences" book, to
satisfy the "new" criteria? Does the book really lose points
because it doesn't score in the "new" category?

This seems to be a common point from critics! As if the author
of a personal memoir is writing a song that "breaks new ground"
from his previous album.

Why do critics so slavishly look for this attribute in a work?
/anti-critic rampage

"Thunder" was a great book, whether "new" or not.

Thangyew, thangyew verrra much.

Seriously though, the review is quite complimentary and ends with a
recommendation, so the "nothing new" comment is just part of a
lead-in.

I'm very pleased that Air University finally got around to looking at
the book. The AU quarterly will certainly make a lot of folks aware of
it who haven't yet heard or read about it. It would certainly be nice
if AWC or ACSC would put it on their recommended reading list.

Now, if I can just break through the wall of silence at the Air Force
Academy (which I live next-door to...) and get the cadets reading the
book.

New book still on track for this fall release. Title is still to be
determined.



Ed Rasimus
Fighter Pilot (USAF-Ret)
"When Thunder Rolled"
Smithsonian Institution Press
ISBN #1-58834-103-8