Hello and welcome to another edition of Inside the Cover.

I am your host, Ted Ayres and I am pleased to be with you once again.

It is one thing to read about American history, such as the revolution of 1776, the Civil War, and the World Wars when you were not around.

Not a participant, not an observer.

It is something else, however, to read of recent history that was individually impactful and memorable in that regard.

I want to bring you two books that occasion vivid memories and thoughts for me.

Our first book tonight is The Shadow of War by Jeff Shaara.

Shaara is a wonderfully talented writer and one of my favorites.

The book is subtitled A Novel of the Cuban Missile Crisis.

The book begins with a prologu about the Bay of Pigs Invasion in April of 1961, and the impact that the fiasco had o the new Kennedy administration, and then runs from May 1st, 1961 to November 2nd, 1962.

Going back to my opening commentary, I grew up in the shadow of the Cold War and it was a dark shadow indeed.

I can remember my parents talking about atomic bomb test as early as 1954, when I was seven years old.

I was also part of the generation that was told that gettin beneath your school desk offered viable protection from a nuclear attack.

I was 15, by the way, Shaara would have been ten, when the Cuban Missile Crisis was taking place.

Was Russia really putting atomic warheads 90 miles away from the United States?

I can tell you that this was a trying time for a young kid from a small town in Missouri and the rest of the world, of course.

Our second book tonigh is The Women by Kristin Hannah.

Hannah is a gifted and successful author of multiple novels.

I remember her book, The Nightingale as being one of my all time favorite reads.

This book tells the story of Frances Grace McGrath, also known as Frankie.

Frances grew up in a sheltered and idyllic environment on Coronado Island, California.

Sheltered by her conservative parents.

At a going away event for her older brother Finley, who, fresh out of the Nava Academy, is headed to Vietnam.

Frankie is tol by one of Finley's pals, women can be heroes.

With this motivation, she surprises her family and herself by volunteering for service as an Army nurse in Vietnam.

The women is a historical novel about a woma coming of age in 1960s America.

It is a boo about a woman who goes to war.

But it is also abou the sacrifices that women make for their country.

Again, this book has grea historical significance to me, as I had finished my freshman year of college as the book begins i May of 1966, as the role of the USA began to expand in Vietnam and Southeast Asia.

The war was clearly on every young person's mind.

Hannah does a marvelous jo of capturing the horror of war and the role that women nurses played in the medical facilities treating the battlefield casualties, often at great personal sacrifice mentally, physically, and emotionally.

Hannah also speaks to the national division that the Vietnam War created, and the impact that this had on those who served.

There are many powerful moments in this book, and I often found myself shaking my head as I was reminded of the impact of the war, and sometime weeping about the horrors of war and the courage and strength of people.

I think this is an important read, and I proudly recommend it to you.

Tonight, We have spoken to two books that came out in 2024.

The Shadow of War by Jeff Shaara and The Women by Kristin Hannah.

Again, hats off to my friend Randy for putting these books in my hand.

Thanks for watching.

Good night and we'll see you next time.