The other day I had the honor of meeting Mr. Charles Martin the author of this book:
The Last Great Ace

He has such a great knowledge of WWII history (including a lot of first hand knowledge!). As an American so connected with Japan today, I find it really difficult to believe we were once Enemies (with a capital ‘E’). I, for one, am glad we made up! Anyway, history has always been interesting to me, but since becoming obsessed with all things Japan, WWII in particular is fascinating.

This book is the story of Tom McGuire, America’s number 2 Ace during WWII. Apparently there isn’t much written about him and yet this book is so full of data and dialog you’d think the author was drawing from a long tradition of biographies.

I haven’t gotten very far with the book. I started full force then decided to watch a single episode of 24. Bad idea. Four hours later, I was too sleepy to hit the book again. I hit the sack instead.

(Side note: You simply can’t watch 24 on television here and there. You really, really need the DVDs to watch more than one episode at a time. Absolutely brilliant. Especially considering today’s threat of terrorism.)

Ok, sorry for that…

Actually that is about all I have to say on this book for now. I am really looking forward to reading it this weekend. I am thinking of stocking it for the store. While it isn’t related to Japan particularly, I imagine there are many students of Japanese such as myself who are also very interested in WWII history.