Robert J. (ygrec23) reviewed on 4/11/2015 + 25 more book reviews

Helpful Score: 1

The Battle of the Atlantic has been a hobby of mine for a long time. I've read countless books about it, all addressed to amateur geezer historians like myself. And been happy with them. Then along comes "Black May" by Michael Gannon and blows all predecessors out of the water.

"Black May" by Michael Gannon is the most accomplished, most entirely thought through and well-expressed history of the Battle of the Atlantic ever written, and I've been reading them for over forty years. In the future it will always be the "gold standard" history of that years-long struggle. No serious amateur of WWII history can afford to ignore this work.

Gannon knows perfectly well what he's doing. An experienced historian at the University of Florida, his command of all details puts to shame other wannabe attempts to describe the war between U-boats, merchant shipping and the Anglo-American navies. Nor is his effort merely a droning, dry, academic treatment. Just as he wipes the board when it comes to factual detail and accuracy, his ability to narrate the continuing struggle in an intelligently dramatic manner (void of all histrionics) combines to form what must be the single best treatment of this necessarily fundamental sub-conflict of WWII. Read it. You'll never regret it.

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