Carrier Wars; Naval Aviation from World War II to the Persian Gulf

New York: Paragon House, 1989. First Printing [Stated]. Trade paperback. Very good. x, 274, [4] pages. Illustrations. Notes. Bibliography. Index. Edwin Palmer Hoyt (August 5, 1923 - July 29, 2005) was an American writer who specialized in military history. Until 1958, Hoyt worked in news media, after which he produced non-fiction works. In 1943, Hoyt's father was appointed by President Franklin Roosevelt as the director of the Domestic Branch, Office of War Information. The younger Hoyt served with the Office of War Information during WWII, from 1943 to 1945. In 1945 and 1946, he served as a foreign correspondent for The Denver Post and the United Press. Edwin Hoyt subsequently worked as an ABC broadcaster, covering the 1948 revolution in Czechoslovakia and the Arab-Israeli conflict. In 1957 he was a television producer and writer-director at CBS, and in 1958 he was an assistant publisher of American Heritage magazine in New York. Starting in 1958, Hoyt became a writer full-time. In the 40 years since his first publication in 1960, he produced nearly 200 published works. Derived from a Kirkus review: Carrier Wars offers a dramatic briefing on carriers. Having set the pre-WW II scene, Hoyt recounts how Japan lost its lead in carrier strategy once hostilities commenced. Much of his narrative is devoted to the Pacific theater's epic clashes, from the Pearl Harbor Strike and engagement at Midway through the battle of Samar, in which the American fleet prevailed despite kamikaze attacks. Covered as well are the sinking of Britain's Ark Royal near Gibraltar and the effective use of escort carriers against German submarines. Carriers subsequently made substantive contributions to campaigns in Korea, Indochina, the Falklands, and the Middle East. Recently, US flattops have patrolled the Gulf of Sidra to keep Libya's regime on notice that there's a blood cost for sponsoring terrorism. The author concludes that there will always be gainful employment for carriers as flexible instruments of the nation's foreign policy. There's no denying their glorious past--which Hoyt brings to vivid life.