The Sailor's Homer
- Subject: Biography & Memoirs | General Military & Naval History | Clear the Decks Up to 80% OFF
- Format:
Hardcover
- Pages:
264pages
- Published:
November 15, 2015
- ISBN-10:
1612518958
- ISBN-13:
9781612518954
- Product Dimensions:
9 × 6 × 1 in
- Product Weight:
8 oz
Overview
While all of this would seem to indicate McKenna had become the stereotypical enlisted sailor, he did not fit neatly into this niche. Two important qualities made McKenna stand out among the many enlisted sailors. The first was his indomitable will, his desire to rise up against seemingly great odds and continue onward even when events seemed to conspire against him. The average person might have given up and moved on without trying to overcome the many adversities placed in their path. The second distinguishing quality was his desire to be educated and to write.
McKenna set out to record his experiences in a novel. His love of machinery, his acceptance by the sailors he served with, his experiences ashore with crews at their normal haunts, his interest in other cultures, and his natural intelligence all influenced his writing. For the first time readers could understand the typical life of a sailor. His book, The Sand Pebbles, became a classic in naval literature and a major motion picture starring Steve McQueen in 1966.
While McKenna focused largely on the enlisted force, his work applies to anyone in the military, especially those in the sea services. The Sailor’s Homer, in addition to giving context to McKenna’s writings, includes his short story “Hour of Panic,” which is difficult to find in its entirety. This biography offers more than just a frame for McKenna’s work. It provides a fuller perspective on the life of all enlisted sailors of his era, showcasing the oft-forgotten good alongside the bad. Cdr. Thomas Cutler, USN (Ret.), author of A Sailor's History of the U.S. Navy, best sums up Richard McKenna’s life and work: they are “a virtual training ground for those who must encounter other cultures in their travels and a study in human character with a particular relevance to those who wear uniforms.”About the Author
Editorial Reviews
"Noble's diligent research has produced an excellent portrait of McKenna. He concludes the biography with the fair observation that through McKenna's writing about enlisted sailors, readers 'can observe a largely overlooked aspect' of Navy life. (p. 168) Readers interested in 20th century American naval history and the life of enlisted sailors should enjoy this well-crafted book." —JAMP: The Journal of America's Military Past
"The Sailor's Homer is a masterful book, a first-rate biography of a complex and overlooked author. Noble shows how to write a nautical biography." —Naval Historical Foundation
"It is brilliantly researched and written by a distinguished author who served as a CPO in the US Coast Guard, about a man of similar background and career. The book is largely based on McKenna's writings and some 200 pounds weight of diaries and papers that he left behind. It is a good read though, particularly for those with a little knowledge of the US influence in Asia between the wars. It has been noted by at least one historian that enlisted personnel have often been forgotten in military and naval history. More so in the United States, perhaps, so this publication is timely." —The Naval Review (UK)
"McKenna's own experiences as a 'China Sailor' offer a rare perspective of an enlisted man, one who loved the machinery-like the novel's protagonist-as well as books, a combination that enabled him to put in print an account of ordinary men operating and sometimes thriving in alien cultures." —Seapower
“In this, Noble’s historical volume is a poetic echo of McKenna’s literary masterpiece: Through McKenna, Noble admirably memorializes the life of the enlisted American sailor.” —H-Net