Halsey's Typhoon

This book has a great opening scene on Halsey's Court of Inquiry, spends far too much time on the hurricane and the terrible ordeal of the sailors who were forced to abandon ship in the teeth of one of the worst typhoons on record, and then lets Halsey off the hook (as a feckless Navy did itself). The book would have been far better if the authors' editor had cut the hurricane coverage in half. Strangely, the authors spend half a chapter on Nathaniel Bowditch's "Practical Navigator" apparently for the sole purpose of noting that Halsey's fleet meteorogist had a "well-thumbed" copy of the book on his shelf.  Still a very well-written book about a highly-talented and deeply-flawed American hero.