Author Douglas Jacobson takes a look at WWII Belgian Resistance

Douglas Jacobson (second from left) and former members of the Comet Line.

Author Douglas W. Jacobson researched the history of the Comet Line—a WWII Belgian Resistance organization that rescued downed allied aviators—for his book Night of Flames. Now he shares what he learned with War Through the Generations, a blog devoted to war and its impact.

Uncommon Courage
Part 1 of 3

On a dark night during World War Two, American airman, George Watt, a gunner aboard a B-17, was on a mission from England to the Ruhr valley in Germany when his plane was shot down near the Belgian village of Zele. He parachuted to earth and landed in an open field, drawing the immediate attention of local Nazi authorities. Frightened and alone, Watt hid in a ditch while the local townspeople distracted the authorities by pointing off in the wrong direction. Before long, one of the locals approached him and led him to a rural homestead where he was given civilian clothing and warm food. A few days later Watt was taken to Brussels where he was interviewed to make certain he wasn’t a spy and was soon off to Paris and eventually to safety in Spain. Watt didn’t know it at the time but he had been aboard the “Comet Line”.

The Comet Line was Europe’s largest and most successful underground escape line during World War Two. Established in 1941 by a 24 year old Belgian woman, Andrée De Jongh (known to all as Dédée) and her schoolmaster father, the Comet Line transported more than eight hundred Allied aviators to safety during the course of Nazi occupation. Dédée escorted over one hundred of these young soldiers to safety herself . . . (Read the full WWII Belgian Resistance article.)

Purchase Night of Flames: A Novel of WWII, by Douglas W. Jacobson at mcbooks.com

A Fistful of Diamonds called a “many-faceted page turner”

On January 11, the Portland Press Herald/Maine Sunday Telegram ran an in-depth review of A Fistful of Diamonds, by John B. Robinson. The novel takes up where the first book of the series, The Sapphire Sea, left off, only this time Gem Expert Lonny Cushman chases blood diamonds in Rwanda. Reviewer Nancy Grape found the new novel unforgettable.

Several years ago, Portland writer John B. Robinson, armed with a Harvard education, a taste of life as a struggling artist in Paris and a thirst for experience, won a writing fellowship that took him to the sapphire fields of northern Madagascar. There, in the danger and unpredictability of mining and trading gems, the first novel in his Gemstone Thriller series was born.

"The Sapphire Sea" was warmly welcomed. Now the second novel in the taut series has arrived. And "A Fistful of Diamonds" has been worth the wait.

The year is 2000. Robinson's hero, New York gem dealer Lonny Cushman, has moved on to a new mission in Rwanda, a country where death broods, visible and threatening, over a horrific history of genocide and violence. Tensions roil throughout Central Africa. Danger threatens. Violence beckons or repels. And so do the storied diamonds of the area. (Read the full review.)

Purchase the Gemstone Thrillers, by John B. Robinson, at McBooks.com

Boxing Author George Kimball talks to Gelf Magazine about the "Sweetest Science"

Max Lakin recently interviewed George Kimball for Gelf Magazine about Kimball's new book Four Kings: Leonard, Hagler, Hearns, Duran, and the Last Great Era of Boxing, and the state of boxing yesterday and today.

There is a kind of after-hours stigma attached to modern boxing. Far removed from Ali standing—black-and-white-poster-print—over Liston, fights now are usually a rock-em, sock-em Late Nite show piped out on deeply-buried cable stations, or a blue-moon main event accompanied by the letters PPV and sponsorships shinier than the shorts in the ring. Boxing's been given the inorganic HBO treatment—bastardized, some would say—by grotesque caricatures like Tyson and his impossibly-high-pitches theatrics.

Which is perhaps why boxing—the way it used to be—has been canonized, too, enjoying somewhat of a sentimental resurgence in the mainstream with movies like Million Dollar Baby, Cinderella Man, and Resurrecting the Champ portraying a pageant of grit and heart—of earnest men giving themselves to the ring and doing it for pride and class, not promotional contracts.

It is precisely this kind of boxing that veteran sportswriter George Kimball chronicles exhaustively in Four Kings: Leonard, Hagler, Hearns, Durán and the Last Great Era of Boxing, an enthusiastic jaunt through the sport's brief return to artistry in the post-Ali era, painted by Sugar Ray Leonard, Marvelous Marvin Hagler, Thomas "Hit Man" Hearns, and Roberto Durán.

The book reads like a compendium of boxing manna in its own right, with recollections from fighters, promoters, and those for whom simply watching these fighters spar was as much a thrill as a gift. But more so, Four Kings is the product of Kimball's immediately apparent zeal for the processes of the sport. . . (Read Gelf's full interview with George Kimball.)

Purchase Four Kings, by George Kimball, at McBooks.com

Douglas Jacobson Explores WWII Polish Resistance

Recently Night of Flames author Douglas W. Jacobson delved into the real history of the WWII Polish Resistance organization Home Army (Armia Krajowa) for the Polish-American newspaper the Am-Pol Eagle.

Poland's Armia Krajowa and German V-2 Rockets in WW2

Part One of Two

Buried deep in a mountainside in the small town of Peenemunde on the Baltic Sea, German scientists were hard at work on the most secret and insidious weapons known to mankind during the dark years of World War Two – the V-1 and V-2 rockets. While rumors of these developments had been floating around Allied intelligence circles, it was not until the winter of 1942 that they were taken seriously. This occurred following a secret report dispatched to London from the Polish Home Army (Armia Krajowa or AK). The report included information gathered by an AK agent working at the Czech steelworks plant in Witowice who had learned of top secret tests being conducted by the Germans utilizing very special steel alloys and advanced manufacturing techniques to produce large steel cylinders.

Further undercover espionage activities by AK agents revealed the secret testing facility at Peenemunde. In the summer of 1943, one particular agent, posing as a forced laborer, was able to create sketches of the testing facility, which was now close to producing V-1 rockets, or “flying bombs” in large-scale quantities. Through a complex network of secret agents and safe-houses his report and sketches made their way to the AK commanders in Warsaw and then to Allied intelligence authorities in London. (Read the full WWII Polish Resistance article.)

Purchase Night of Flames: A Novel of WWII, by Douglas W. Jacobson at mcbooks.com

Four Kings: 2008 Best Holiday Reading according to SecondsOut.com

Thomas Hauser, writing on SecondsOut.com, named his favorite boxing books for holiday reading and included George Kimball’s Four Kings: Leonard, Hagler, Hearns, Duran and the Last Great Era of Boxing.

Here’s what Hauser had to say:

Each year during the holiday season, I publish a “top forty” list of what I consider to be the best books on boxing. That list, updated to accommodate recently published titles, follows . . .

Four Kings by George Kimball (McBooks Press) – Kimball recounts the epic nine battles contested among Sugar Ray Leonard, Marvin Hagler, Thomas Hearns, and Roberto Duran between 1980 and 1989. It was a special time for boxing fans and more special for those who, like Kimball, experienced the drama firsthand from the inside. The bigger the fight, the better Kimball tells it. (Read the full boxing column.)

Purchase Four Kings, by George Kimball, at McBooks.com

The Book of Matthew chosen a 2008 Great Debut by Rocky Mountain News

Denver’s Rocky Mountain News came out with its choices for Best Debut Novels of the year and gave an enthusiastic nod to The Book of Matthew, by Thomas White.

In praising the novel, Justin Matott says, “There are many bland — been-there-done-that — kind of serial killer books out there. White’s literary style is fresh, inventive, engrossing and truly macabre.” (Read the full Great Debuts article.)

Purchase The Book of Matthew from McBooks.com

The Book of Matthew, by Thomas White, a pick of the year by Shelf Awareness

Calling The Book of Matthew a “superb, adrenaline-laced thriller,” Shelf Awareness has chosen White’s debut novel as a pick of the year. The crime thriller follows the macabre plans of a twisted serial killer with a very personal grudge, and the increasingly desperate attempts by San Francisco detectives to stop him from committing his brutal crimes. The novel came out in August and has garnered an enthusiastic fan base. (See full Shelf Awareness pick of the year list.)

Purchase The Book of Matthew at McBooks.com

Museum of Human Beings: Historical novel is “rich with unusual historical detail”

In a November 28, 2008 review, the Denver Post lauds Colin Sargent’s new novel:

Using Lewis and Clark's amazing trek as its springboard, Colin Sargent centers on Sacagawea, the journey's guide. Actually, it focuses on Sacagawea's son, Jean Baptiste, who began his life on that fateful voyage.

Jean Baptiste's mother had told Pomp — her nickname for him — that the Indian must be helpful but not too smart because, "It makes a bad impression." But, upon her death, Clark sends the boy to a Catholic school until, on the threshold of manhood, he becomes the traveling companion of Friedrich Wilhem, Prince of Wurttemberg. (Read the full review.)

Purchase Museum of Human Beings, by Colin Sargent at McBooks.com

George Kimball on NPR's "Only a Game"

Bill Littlefield, host of NPR's "Only a Game," interviews George Kimball about his new book Four Kings: Leonard, Hagler, Hearns, Duran and the Last Great Era of Boxing. George and Bill discuss the fights, the fighters, and the golden days of middleweight boxing. (Listen to the show.)

Purchase Four Kings, by George Kimball, at McBooks.com

Author Colin Sargent talks about Sacagawea and the inspiration for his novel Museum of Human Beings

“Sacagawea is always portrayed with her ‘papoose,' who appears to be a fashion accessory.”

During a recent interview for the York Independent newspaper, Sargent spoke of his inspiration for this work of fiction that is steeped in historical fact.

"All the images of Lewis and Clark's famous Shoshone guide, from elementary history books to the coin in currency today, are titled ‘Sacagawea.' But there are two human beings in those pictures... Sacagawea is always portrayed with her ‘papoose,' who appears to be a fashion accessory as central to her legend as a flag is to Betsy Ross... I found myself wondering, who is that boy? Whatever happened to him?"

From there, Sargent explained that he began hunting through archive entries that mention Jean Baptiste Charbonneau, who lived from 1805 to 1866.

As a result of that search, Sargent said, "a picture of a man struggling to emerge from the shadow of his celebrity mom began to take shape, and I felt a real connection - Baptiste is a touchstone for so many of us who are searching for our own place in the world." (read the full interview with Colin Sargent)

Purchase Museum of Human Beings, by Colin Sargent at McBooks.com