On Call in Hell or Forty Ways to Look at Winston Churchill

On Call in Hell: A Doctor's Iraq War Story

Author: Richard Jadick

A riveting memoir from the Navy doctor praised as "Hero, M.D." on the cover of Newsweek.

Cdr. Richard Jadick's story is one of the most extraordinary to come out of the war in Iraq. At thirty-eight, the last place the Navy doctor was expected to be was on the front lines. He was too old to be called up, but not too old to volunteer. In November 2004, with the military reeling from an acute doctor shortage, Jadick chose to accompany the First Battalion, Eighth Marine Regiment (the "1/8") to Iraq. During the Battle of Fallujah, Jadick and his team worked tirelessly and courageously around the clock to save their troops in the worst street fighting Americans had faced since Vietnam. It is estimated that without Jadick at the front, the Marines would have lost an additional thirty men. Of the hundreds of men he treated, only one died after reaching a hospital. This is the inspiring story of his decision to enter into the fray, a fascinating glimpse into wartime triage, and a compelling account of courage under fire.

Publishers Weekly

Blood-and-guts accounts of Fallujah are not in short supply, but Jadick—a career Marine officer and brigade surgeon who took a demotion to battalion surgeon to volunteer for service in Iraq in 2004—tells the story through the eyes of a doctor. Unlike colleagues who remained in battalion aid stations behind the lines, Jadick and his medics accompanied their unit in makeshift ambulances as it battled through the streets. This was not bravado, he writes, but a calculated strategy to reach, stabilize and rush wounded troops to hospitals more quickly. He makes his case many times over, with dramatic accounts of catastrophically injured men from his unit and others who would not have survived a journey to the aid station. This remarkable man's story is well worth telling, although his writer should have discouraged him from frequent pauses for memorial essays on every soldier who died, and to remind readers of the Marines' bravery, of the dedication of the medics, and how much he loves his wife, the Marines and America. Readers who can skim past these segments will find the book a memorable experience. (Mar. 6)

Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

New interesting textbook: Shopping or Ultimate Weight Solution

Forty Ways to Look at Winston Churchill: A Brief Account of a Long Life

Author: Gretchen Craft Rubin

A WALL STREET JOURNAL SUMMER PICK
A WASHINGTON POST BESTSELLER

Warrior and writer, genius and crank, rider in the British cavalry’s last great charge and inventor of the tank, Winston Churchill led Britain to fight alone against Nazi Germany in the fateful year of 1940 and set the standard for leading a democracy at war. With penetrating insight and vivid anecdotes, Gretchen Rubin makes Churchill accessible and meaningful to twenty-first-century readers by analyzing the many contrasting views of the man: he was an alcoholic, he was not; he was an anachronism, he was a visionary; he was a racist, he was a humanitarian; he was the most quotable man in the history of the English language, he was a bore.

Like no other portrait of its famous subject, Forty Ways to Look at Winston Churchill is a dazzling display of facts more improbable than fiction. It brings to full realization the depiction of a man too fabulous for any novelist to construct, too complex for even the longest narrative to describe, and too significant ever to be forgotten.

Publishers Weekly

Eschewing the linear, chronological approach of most biographies, Yale Law School professor and Churchill devotee Rubin (Power Money Fame Sex: A User's Guide) has written 40 brief chapters looking at the British prime minister from multiple angles: Churchill as son, father, husband, orator, painter, historian, enemy of Hitler and many other roles. Rubin's unique approach works surprisingly well, bringing fresh insight to an exhaustively covered subject. Writing on Churchill as son, for instance, Rubin hammers home the point that he spent his life trying to measure up to an imagined, idealized father. Churchill's real father, Rubin makes clear, thought his son was destined for mediocrity and told him so. When she discusses Churchill's famous gifts as an orator, Rubin contends that his speeches were sometimes overblown, overly heroic and often ignored. She agrees with David Cannadine (In Churchill's Shadow) that Churchill's oratory was most effective when matched by times that required heroic action, such as the spring and summer of 1940. In a chapter devoted to Churchill's legendary drinking, Rubin provocatively presents arguments from both sides: that the drinking was harmless and that it was a major problem. In the end, Rubin sees "her" Churchill as a tragic hero. His life's goal was to preserve the British Empire, yet his greatest achievement, the defeat of Hitler, hastened the empire's end. While Rubin's account clearly isn't comprehensive and belabors a rather obvious point-that different, even opposing, perspectives on one life are possible-it is an excellent introduction to one of the most written about men in history. Photos. (June) Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

Library Journal

What do you get when a management author writes about Winston Churchill? This sampler of the many Churchill biographies already available. Rubin (Power, Money, Fame, Sex: A User's Guide) counts herself among Churchill's great fans. Among her 40 ways of looking at him are "Churchill the Drinker," which includes a section headlined "Churchill was an alcoholic" followed by another section countering "Churchill was not an alcoholic." It all depends on whom you quote. There are "Facts at a Glance," with a list of names of the people Churchill met, a list of the titles of royalty he served, and, near the end, "Churchill True or False." Most of the entries are about four pages long, with large type, wide margins, and nowhere near the exacting vocabulary for which Churchill was known. Newcomers to the topic may find some entries titillating, notably the section on Churchill's sex life, but it's hard to determine the best audience for this book. Any academic biography of Churchill would be more useful than this frothy title. An optional purchase.-Robert C Moore, Bristol-Myers Squibb Medical Imaging, Billerica, MA Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

School Library Journal

Adult/High School-In this fast-paced, fragmented account, each of the 40 short chapters examines one topic: Churchill as leader, father, in tears, etc. Some are no more than lists, one is a simple chronology, and another a compilation of quotes. But taken together, they capture some truths about him, chiefly the many contradictions and complexities of his life and career. Moreover, there are valuable lessons here concerning the difficulties of examining the great lives of history. Rubin has almost as much to say about biography as a subject as she has about Churchill-a good thing for readers relatively new to the genre. And a further lesson lies in her extensive notes and bibliography. It is instructive to witness how much research is necessary to support even a brief account of a long life. Average-quality, black-and-white photos have been thoughtfully chosen. Rubin has much to offer teens, especially those with only vague notions of the great man.-Robert Saunderson, Berkeley Public Library, CA Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews

A fan's notes on Winnie the Tory, tanked-up inventor of the tank and stalwart captain of Team UK in its finest hour. There's only one way to look at a politician, said the curmudgeonly H.L. Mencken: down. But Rubin (Law/Yale), born after Churchill left this vale of tears, finds no cause to scorn the venerable Winston. His contemporaries surely did, of course, and for many reasons: some because his mother was American, some because he was apparently indifferent to the working class, some because he was something of a cold fish. Rubin takes up those arguments one by one, offering a sort of point-counterpoint examination of Churchill's character. Considering him overall to have been a "tragic hero," she allows that his critics had their points. On Churchill's legendary drinking, for example, she accepts with regret the possibility that Churchill may have been an alcoholic—after all, he drank 96 bottles of champagne in two weeks after being turned out of office at the end of WWII—but counters, "Given Churchill's extraordinary accomplishments . . . it's difficult to credit that dependence on alcohol in any way impaired his health or abilities." Explaining merrily away, Rubin favors a newsreel style throughout: "When Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain's government fell in May 1940, the nation turned to Churchill. At last his unique qualities were brought to bear on a supreme challenge, and with his unshakable optimism, his heroic vision, and above all, his splendid speeches, Churchill roused the spirit of the British people." Though her research obviously goes deep, a little of this breeziness goes a long way—and doesn't really do justice to a complex man whose long life beganshortly after the Civil War closed and ended the year Malcolm X was assassinated. Consider this a Cliff's Notes for those too busy to read Churchill himself or one of his many solid biographers. Not much meat on these bones. Agent: Christy Fletcher/Carlisle & Co.

Table of Contents:

	Introduction	1
1	Churchill as Liberty's Champion: Heroic View	11
2	Churchill as Failed Statesman: Critical View	20
3	Churchill's Contemporaries: Whom He Knew	33
4	Churchill's Finest Hour - May 28, 1940: The Decisive Moment	35
5	Churchill as Leader: Suited to High Office?	42
6	Churchill's Genius with Words: His Greatest Strength	46
7	Churchill's Eloquence: His Exact Words	55
8	Churchill in Symbols: Metonymy	69
9	Churchill, True: In a Single Word	74
10	Churchill's Desire for Fame: His Motive	77
11	Churchill as Depressive: The "Black Dog"?	82
12	Churchill's Disdain: His Dominant Quality	86
13	Churchill's Belligerence: His Defining Characteristic	92
14	Churchill's Time Line: Key Events	98
15	Churchill as Son: His Most Formative Role	103
16	Churchill as Father: A Good Parent?	109
17	Churchill the Painter: His Favorite Pastime	113
18	Churchill the Spendthrift: A Weakness	119
19	Conflicting Views of Churchill: How Others Saw Him	124
20	Churchill in Tears: Telling Detail	131
21	Churchill the Drinker: An Alcoholic?	136
22	Churchill in Context: Facts at a Glance	139
23	Churchill and Sex: Too Interesting to Ignore	147
24	Churchill as Husband: A Happy Marriage?	152
25	Churchill's Island Story: His Myth	156
26	Churchill in Photographs: How He Changed Through Time	161
27	Churchill as the Hero of a Novel: The Imagined and the Real	171
28	Churchill's Destiny: How He Saw Himself	178
29	Churchill the Imperialist: His Cause	186
30	Churchill's Empire: How He Saw the World	195
31	Churchill and Roosevelt: Friends as Well as Allies?	198
32	Churchill's Imagination: How He Saw History	202
33	Churchill and Hitler: Nemesis	211
34	Churchill Exposed: Missing Information Supplied	221
35	Churchill True or False: Challenged Assumptions	226
36	The Tragedy of Winston Churchill, Englishman: The Meaning of His Life	234
37	Churchill in Portrait: A Likeness	242
38	Churchill's Last Days: How He Died	246
39	My Churchill: Judgment	250
40	Remember Winston Churchill: Epitaph	253
	Notes	255
	Select Bibliography	284
	Acknowledgments	295
	Index	297