2014 – Justin Daniel

This is a list of the books I read in 2014. All the reviews were written in 2014 and are archived on this site in (roughly) the order I read them in.

Book Reviews 2014

- First to Fight: An Inside View of the U.S. Marine Corps, Victor Krulak
  September 25, 20192014 / Book ReviewsI remember at the School of Music during my training early on in my Marine Corps career, this guy in the Army asked me why we needed a Marine Corps. He said something like, “We can do everything the Marine Corps does..” First to Fight is an inside look at the reason we have a Marine Corps. At the end of World War II, there was a downsize of the military and with good reason: the over-burgeoning weight of men and women who joined the war efforts was staggering; as it came to a close, there was no need to continue the excessive size that ballooned during the global conflict. I suppose that the Marine Corps mission has been different throughout history: in it’s early days, Marines would hang from the rigging of ships and distinguished themselves as expert marksman as they protected against the assault of men onto their ship; In the 1920’s and 30’s, the Marine Corps adopted a doctrine on beach landings and assaults that drastically changed their purpose and intent. With the onset of WWII and the island hopping campaigns, this provided the Marine Corps with a lot of work. But during those years of excess directly after the war the Marines did nothing extraordinary, in the eyes of congress and top military leaders, that the Army could not do also. And thus the battle for the Marine Corps’ life had again come into jeopardy. The first half of this book is, frankly, a dry read. The author, retired Major General Krulak discusses those early years after WWII and the struggle to get the Commandant in on the board of the Joint Chief of Staff, which includes the top Generals from the Army, Navy and what was to become the Air Force. He talks about court hearings and a lot of legal mantra that I just didn’t understand. I got the point though: saving the Marine Corps was tough and a lot of people were against it. He then breaks down the Marine Corps from specific angles that isolate it’s strengths and how it is different and unique from other services. Examples from these chapters (the most interesting, by the way) are things like how thrifty and inventive Marines are. He uses anecdotes from his many years of service as illustrations of these traits that make Marines superior and builds an argument of why we need a Marine Corps. Ultimately, he concludes that the purpose of the todays Marine Corps is a response force that can amass a great deal of proficient warriors in little time in order to “police” the world and it’s atrocities. It is because of this reason that Marines need to be ready to fight at any time. I remember hearing a story of the 31st MEU in Okinawa, Japan that was told to prepare during a typhoon to board a ship soon after it had passed in response to the 9/11 attacks. The Marine Corps survives today because it’s mission is made flexible to suit the needs of this great nation and we will continue in this manner until the fight for the Marine Corps life is put on the chopping block again....

The Cross of Christ

Washington: A Life

Strange Fire: The Danger of Offending the Holy Spirit with Counterfeit Worship

When We Were on Fire: A Memoir of Consuming Faith, Tangled Love, and Starting Over

Starship Troopers

Mao: The Unknown Story

Refugee (Star Wars: Force Heretic, #2)

The Story of Christianity, Vol II: The Reformation to the Present

The Lord of The Rings: Fellowship of the Ring

The Lord of the Rings: the Two Towers

The Courage to Be Protestant: Truth-Lovers, Marketers, and Emergents in the Postmodern World

The Lord of the Rings, Return of the King

Total Truth: Liberating Christianity from its Cultural Captivity

The Japanese and Christianity: Why is Christianity not widely believed in Japan?

First to Fight: An Inside View of the U.S. Marine Corps

Strange Glory: A Life of Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Black Hawk Down

Rainbow 6

Why We’re Not Emergent (By Two Guys Who Should Be)

The Last Stand Of Fox Company: A True Story Of U.S. Marines In Combat

Without Remorse

John Macarthur: Minister of the Flock

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

I Heard My Country Calling: a Memoir

Animal Farm

1984

Fight Club

Mission at Nuremberg: An American Army Chaplain and the Trial of the Nazis

The Lion’s Gate: On the Front Lines of the Six Days War

The Good Spy: The Life and Death of Robert Ames

The Dead and Those About to Die: D-Day: The Big Red One at Omaha Beach

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

Daniel Commentary

Titan: The Life of John D. Rockefeller

The Life of the Automobile: The Complete History of the Motor Car

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

American Sniper: The Autobiography of the Most Lethal Sniper in U.S. Military History

No Easy Day: The Firsthand Account of the Mission that Killed Osama Bin Laden

Level Zero Heroes: The Story of U.S. Marine Special Operations in Bala Murghab, Afghanistan

A Christmas Carol

The Giver

The Aviators: Eddie Rickenbacker, Jimmy Doolittle, Charles Lindbergh, and the Epic Age of Flight

Visions Of America: A History Of The United States

Debt of Honor

The Hobbit

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

My Men Are My Heroes: The Brad Kasal Story

The Last Battle: When U.S. and German Soldiers Joined Forces in the Waning Hours of World War II in Europe

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

Saving Leonardo: A Call to Resist the Secular Assault on Mind, Morals, and Meaning