BOOK Reviews

"Keeney’s passion is to unearth the lost voices of American history  -- stories of unselfish sacrifice, as he calls them -- and through those voices bring out the character of the nation we live in today." The Courier-Journal

15 Minutes: General Curtis LeMay and The Countdown to Nuclear Annihilation

(St. Martin's Press/Macmillan) 

“This is the best book ever written on the political and military influence that nuclear weapons have had on American policy.”—Col. Walter J. Boyne, USAF (Ret.), Former Director of the National Air & Space Museum

"A jolting year-by-year history of Strategic Air Command's transformation into a massive worldwide force primed to launch bombers within 15 minutes of the order." —Publishers Weekly

"A chilling and unsettling account of accidents, oversights, errors in planning, and other mistakes and misjudgments by the military and its civilian masters...sobering and recommended." —Library Journal

"Such dedication to dangerous work...deserves to be recognized and honored. Thanks to Mr. Keeney, it now is." —The Wall Street Journal

“One of the most revealing works on the atom bomb ever written.” The Sarasota Herald-Tribune

“In the midst of a new era of nuclear worry, the Cold War appears ever more surreal in  memory….therein lies the virtue of Keeney’s marvelous chronological account….the logic of the Cold War was cold indeed, but irrational it was not.” Maclean’s

 A fascinating look at the United States nuclear capabilities at a critical period.” The Courier-Journal

“Brilliantly written, and engrossing…Keeney’s book shows us the world beyond the press-releases of American propaganda…a must-read for anybody interested in the Cold War.” –Portland Book Review

“The power of Keeney’s book lies in his determination to avoid excess emotion and stick to the facts – facts that, God knows, are themselves emotive enough. You finish this book a little numbed, though with a strange sense of hope: If mankind can get through years like these and learn the lessons, perhaps it can get through anything.” –Bloomberg News

“Along with David Hoffman’s The Dead Hand, Keeney’s book is yet another chilling reminder of the enormous gamble of Cold War deterrence.” –Foreign Affairs

Based on 10 years of research and thousands of pages of formerly classified documents, the interrelated world of early warning, nuclear weapons testing, and instant retaliation with devastating lethality were connected in ways not previously documented, and not always with good results. But more than weapons and steel, here are the people of the Cold War – the bomber pilots, the radar navigators, the signal-ferreting ravens; the scientists, radar scope dopes and the thousands more that were tasked with testing, transporting, and delivering the bombs the scientists made. Based on formerly classified documents, military records, press accounts, interviews with participants conducted by the author and over 10 years of research and writing, this is one of the most important works on atom war ever written.

REVIEWS

“Stunning images.” —New York Daily News

 “Earthlings are seeing their planet in a whole new light, thanks to NASA and its astronauts aboard the Internet-wired space station. They’re beaming down dazzling images all captured in this marvelous book.”—Huffington Post

“Photos and thoughts beamed down from the International Space Station are raising goose bumps across the planet.—Daily Telegram

“For decades people have found themselves transfixed by photos of Earth from space, en­joying a switch in perspective that stimulates the mind and awakens a sense of mystery.”—The Telegram

“When I look down at Earth amid the infinite blackness of space, I see magnificence. It is absolutely mesmerizing to be in orbit to go over our planet and look down and see the oceans and the clouds go by. If you’re not careful you’ll be by the window all day.” Mario Runco

The Pointblank Directive

(Osprey/London) 

  "A well written history..."  Publishers Weekly

"Keeney, a veteran author on WWII, relates the story of the successful air offensive that broke the back of the German air force in the spring of 1944 and paved the way for Allied victory in WWII. Keeney’s history of Operation Pointblank differs from others in his emphasis on the operation’s connection to the overall campaign against Germany in Western Europe. He demonstrates how the air victory enabled the successful landings on D-Day and further allowed the Allied armies to prosecute their land campaign with the comfortable knowledge that there was no threat to them from the air. Keeney explores how an Allied air campaign that was failing badly in November 1943 achieved total victory a mere five months later through new leadership, new technology, and most important, by jettisoning old tactics in favor of aggressive fighter sweeps that took the battle to the Luftwaffe everywhere. Among many personal stories of aerial combat, he makes the important point that victory in the air cannot be fully appreciated without understanding how critical it was to winning the decisive battle on the ground: D-Day. Keeney’s well-written history is aimed at a general audience, but experts will find it an enjoyable read." Publishers Weekly

"A thoroughly satisfying read: informative and entertaining. What is always mind-boggling is the sacrifice made in any war. Pointblank Directive shows quite clearly what the airwar leading up to D-Day cost both sides of the conflict. More importantly, it fills a needed gap in knowledge of exactly how critical the proper air campaign can be in determining the ground conflict. Historians and students of World War II history alike will be well-served reading this book." 
—Bernie Chowdhury, author of The Last Dive: A Father and Son's Fatal Descent into the Ocean's Depths (Harper)

"The Pointblank Directive is a richly textured portrait of air power and leadership, possibly the last untold story of D-Day. Using extensive new research, Keeney carefully reconstructs the events that led up to the success of that battle."
—Savannah Jones, www.sirreadalot.org

"...comes from a historian who considers the politics and personalities of The Pointblank Directive and how it become one of the most amazing military come-backs in history. By raid's end some forty percent of the Allied planes had been shot down. The story of how forces recovered from these heavy losses and flew to victory against impossible odds makes this a powerful account of strategic air command decision-making processes, battles, and close encounters, offering a fresh analysis of how The Pointblank Directive changed the world."
—The Midwest Book Review (March 2013)

"I enjoyed this book immensely. It was fast-paced, exciting, filled with the untold yet in no way unglamorous adventures and perilous day-to-day existence of the United States Air Force ... This is one of the best historical books I have read."
- The San Francisco Book Review (April 16, 2013)

LOST IN THE PACIFIC (Courier/Premier)

"An amazing account of several pilots who survived unthinkable conditions and odds after crashing with their planes. As the foreword rightfully points out, these are not adventures but stories of hard battles against the elements, hostile wildlife and other factors.”

"Being told by the survivors themselves these stories are amazing reading, giving a gripping insight into the minds of these resilient, determined and ultimately lucky men. It serves as a great illustration of the state of aviation at the time and the kind of circumstances one actually finds in life threatening accidents.

"Very well written and edited this is extremely fascinating, eye opening and makes you appreciate how close to death those heroic pilots were all of the time. Very impressive."
Christoph Fisher Books

 “…captivating, real, human. Epic!" Aviation News Journal

“As a former fighter pilot, I couldn't put this book down!”  James Murphy, Author, Courage to Execute

"If you value courage and honor, you’ll love Keeney’s new page turner Lost in the Pacific. He’s collected for us, stories of true valor as told by our national treasure-the American warrior. While the tales are from one war in particular, the lessons and the show of determination can teach us for generations to come. This book is a must read book for all who value our freedom." Col. Walter Herd, USA (Ret.), Commander, Joint Special Operations Forces, Afghanistan,  Author Unconventional Warrior

The eleventh hour (Turner/Wiley)

"This is solid, revealing, well-researched history of a fascinating and pivotal period in WWII." Booklist

"In this brief volume, popular military-historian Keeney describes the discussions and negotiations leading up to the D-Day invasion. He focuses on internal disagreements within the American leadership, for example, on whether George Marshall or Dwight Eisenhower would command the invasion forces, and, even more compellingly, on differences between the Big Three—the U.S., England, and the Soviet Union—on how to conduct the war’s endgame. Describing the secret meetings aboard the U.S. battleship Iowa and the elaborate and perilous arrangements resulting in the summit at Tehran, Keeney provides both military and personal insight into FDR, Churchill, and Stalin. He offers abundant evidence of Churchill’s stubbornness in fighting for a second Mediterranean front, even if it were to delay the cross-channel invasion, and presents a convincing and revisionist view of Stalin as a reasonable and even jovial force in the discussions, though in no way minimizing the leadership of FDR and his military leaders. This is solid, revealing, well-researched history of a fascinating and pivotal period in WWII."

— Mark Levine

THE LIVES THEY SAVED

REVIEWS

“Keeney has created a compelling narrative of what happened on 9/11 both at ground zero and in New York harbor, of how mariners and rescue workers combined forces to evacuate survivors to safety as quickly as possible. The book provides unique insight into what was happening in New York and is highly recommended to both those with an interest in maritime security operations as well as readers interested in the history of 9/11.” Naval Historical Foundation

“The best books on 9/11 are, as they must be, harrowing and heartbreaking. But of the new books being published to coincide with the 20th anniversary, two stand out for their focus on stories of uplift. While there are indelible images of stunned survivors fleeing the World Trade Center on foot, L. Douglas Keeney’s “The Lives They Saved: The Untold Story of Medics, Mariners, and the Incredible Boatlift That Evacuated Nearly 300,000 People From New York City on 9/11” tells of the massive rescue involving passenger ferries, police boats, harbor-cruise ships, tugboats, and even tiny rubber dinghies. More than 100 civilian captains rushed to the scene by boat to help; many vessels transported casualties across the water to Jersey City, New Jersey, where ambulances awaited. Keeney calls the evacuation by sea “a missing piece of the September 11 story for two decades.” Christian Science Monitor