Kernan's Best WWII Book

books:


	• Crossing the Line: A Bluejacket's Odyssey in World War II (Yale Library of Military History) Alvin B. Kernan Yale University Press, 2007 - 208 pages average customer review:based on 2 reviews view larger image
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Crossing the Line

As a W.W. II navy veteran, author and collector of W.W. II literature, I regard "Crossing the Line" as one of the best written, first-hand accounts of the author's experiences in the Pacific theater. I would rank it among the top ten percent of literature to come out of the war in terms of accuracy and readability.

Kernan's Best WWII Book

When you think of a Princeton University professor who specializes in Shakespearean literature, you probably won't be visualizing someone who started adulthood by engaging in vicious aerial gunnery duels with Japanese fighters and otherwise living the stressful, profane, hazardous life of an enlisted sailor on three World War II aircraft carriers, one of which was sunk while he was aboard. Such is the case, though, with author Alvin B. Kernan. His wartime autobiography, "Crossing the Line," is one of the most interesting and often gripping sagas of navy life that I've read.

The book came as a surprise to me, on two counts. One, I knew that Kernan had been an aviation ordnanceman on the USS Enterprise during the Battle of Midway, and later an aerial gunner. But I had very little notion of the depth of his wartime experiences, not only as an aircrewman but also in escaping the sinking of the USS Hornet in the Guadalcanal battles and in a harrowing deployment aboard the escort carrier USS Suwanee. Suffice to say in this short review that Kernan earned a Navy Cross, a DFC, and five air medals from inside the turret of a TBF Avenger!

And two, I've also read Kernan's series of novels that relate to his wartime experiences: "Love and Glory," "Attack-Repeat-Attack," and "Fear In the Dark." I thought they were interesting but rather flawed (see my reviews on Amazon). For that reason, I was a little dubious about reading "Crossing the Line." Would this be another interesting but flawed piece of work that would cause me to keep my red pen handy while I read it? No. "Crossing the Line" is simply outstanding. Anyone with an interest in WWII naval air action will want to read this book. I highly recommend it. Yes, there are a couple of minor nits that a very knowledgeable historian might want to pick, but they are so insignificant as to be unworthy of mentioning here. "Crossing the Line" will not disappoint you. It is by far the author's best WWII book, and darned good by any measure.

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In this memoir of life aboard aircraft carriers during World War II, Alvin Kernan combines vivid recollections of his experience as a young enlisted sailor with a rich historical account of the Pacific war. Kernan served in many battles and was aboard the Hornet when it was sunk by torpedoes in the Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands.
?One of the most arresting naval autobiographies yet published.??Sir John Keegan
?An honest story of collective courage, evocative, well-written, and fixed before the colors fade.??Kirkus Reviews
?[Kernan] recounts a wonderful and exciting American story about a poor farm boy from Wyoming who enlisted in the Navy. . . .[He] has written eight other books. I will go back and read them all.??John Lehman, Air & Space
?Details . . . make the moment vivid; that is what it was like, on the Hornet in its last hours.??Samuel Hynes, New York Times Book Review

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