University Libraries
Eight Good Reads for National Military Appreciation Month and Police Week
By Lucy Fisher
During the month of May, the University Libraries are highlighting books that celebrate National Military Appreciation Month and Police Week. In 1999, the U.S. Senate designated May National Military Appreciation Month to honor and appreciate the patriotism and dedication shown by members of the armed services and their families. In 1962, President John F. Kennedy signed a proclamation which designated May 15 as Peace Officers Memorial Day and the week in which that date falls as Police Week to honor officers who have died in the line of duty. Pick up a book today to delve deeper and learn more about the men and women who work to serve our country and community. Click on the titles to borrow from Roesch Library or another OhioLINK institution.
As a twenty-three-year-old veterinarian, William W. Putney joined the Marine Corps at the height of World War II. He commanded the Third Dog Platoon during the battle for Guam and later served as chief veterinarian and commanding officer of the War Dog Training School, where he helped train former pets for war in the Pacific. After the war, he fought successfully to have USMC war dogs returned to their civilian owners. Always Faithful is Putney’s celebration of the four-legged soldiers that he both commanded and followed.
Grunt tackles the science behind some of a soldier’s most challenging adversaries—panic, exhaustion, heat, noise—and introduces us to the scientists who seek to conquer them. Mary Roach dodges hostile fire with the U.S. Marine Corps Paintball Team as part of a study on hearing loss and survivability in combat. She answers questions not found in any other book on the military: Why is DARPA interested in ducks? How is a wedding gown like a bomb suit? Why are shrimp more dangerous to sailors than sharks?
Ten years after their battalion returns from Baghdad, David Finkel looks into the lives of American veterans who are struggling to adjust to life back home. Thank You for Your Service offers a more complete picture than we have ever had of these two essential questions: When we ask young men and women to go to war, what are we asking of them? And when they return, what are we thanking them for?
On a May afternoon in 1943, an Army Air Forces bomber crashed into the Pacific Ocean and disappeared. Lauren Hillenbrand’s Unbroken: a World War II story of survival, resilience, and redemption shares the story of Lieutenant Louis Zamperini and takes readers on one of the most extraordinary odysseys of the Second World War. Zamperini’s story was made into a movie, available through OhioLINK!
Steve Osborne has seen a thing or two in his twenty years in the NYPD—some harmless things, some definitely not. From his days as a rookie cop to the time spent patrolling in the Anti-Crime Unit—and his visceral, harrowing recollections of working during 9/11—Steve Osborne's stories in The Job : True tales from the life of a New York City cop capture both the absurdity of police work and the bravery of those who do it.
Armed and Dangerous: memoirs of a Chicago policewoman traces one female police officer’s sixteen-year odyssey, beginning with day one at the Police Academy and spanning assignments on Chicago’s West Side, one of the most dangerous areas in the city. Gina Gallo’s stories are sometimes tragic, sometimes funny, often poignant, and provide the reader with a taste of life behind the badge.
After September 11, 2001 Las Vegas Police Sergeant Randy Sutton began soliciting writing from law enforcement officers and hundreds of active and former officers responded from all over the United States. The result is True blue : police stories by those who have lived them, a collection of funny, charming, exciting, haunting stories about murder investigations, missing children, bungling burglars, car chases, lonely and desperate shut-ins, routine traffic stops, officers killed in the line of duty, and the life-changing events of September 11.
Beat cop to top cop : a tale of three cities documents John F. Timoney's rise, from his days as a tough street cop in the South Bronx to his role as police chief of Miami. This fast-moving narrative by the man Esquire magazine named "America's Top Cop" offers a blueprint for crime prevention through first-person accounts from the street, detailing how big-city chiefs and their teams can tame even the most unruly cities.
