Logical Family

 

Logical Family: a Memoir by Armistead Maupin 292 pp.

The well admired author of the wonderful Tales of the City series gives an insight into his upbringing in North Carolina and his later life in San Francisco. One can hardly imagine this icon of the LGBTQ+ world as a conservative Southerner who once worked at the TV station owned by the infamous, anti-gay Senator Jesse Helms. He also served as a US Navy officer in Vietnam and Cambodia receiving recognition from former President Richard Nixon. By his own admission, his early rampant conservatism was an attempt to finally win his father's affection. Maupin began his writing career working in the news media and went on to write about the endearing cast of characters in the Tales books which began as a serial in a small California newspaper. I enjoyed listening to the audiobook, read by Maupin. It brought back fond memories of when he performed here with the Gateway Men's Chorus many years when I met him and was totally charmed.

Indianapolis: The True Story of the Worst Sea Disaster in US Naval History and the Fifty-Year Fight to Exonerate an Innocent Man

Indianapolis: The True Story of the Worst Sea Disaster in US Naval History and the Fifty-Year Fight to Exonerate an Innocent Man by Lynn Vincent and Sara Vladic, 578 pages.

Vincent and Vladic do an incredible job recounting the history of the Indianapolis, a storied ship, sunk by torpedoes at the end of the war. The authors fill the book with stories of the crew members, stories of the Japanese sailors involved in its sinking, and the lengthy saga of the Captain's court martial and the subsequent attempts to clear his name. The ship itself is central to the story. Indianapolis served as Admiral Spruance's flagship during the war. She delivered the "Little Boy" atomic bomb to Tinian in preparation for its flight and detonation over Hiroshima. Indianapolis was among the last major American ships sunk in the war. And the fact that only 316 men, out of a crew of over 1100 survived the sinking and the almost five days floating in the Pacific, made it, as the title states, one of the US Navy's worst disasters ever. The book explores the various naval failures that led to the huge delay by the Navy in mounting a rescue operation. It was only by chance that a patrol bomber spotted the men in the water days after the Indianapolis had sunk. While there was plenty of blame to go around, and at least two Admirals had some possible culpability, the Captain of the Indianapolis, Charles McVay, was the only man during the war to face a Court Martial for having his ship sunk in battle. The fight to clear his name lasted until 2000.
Vincent and Vladic have written a great book, it's compelling and eminently readable.