Clyde Hedges's Blog - Posts Tagged "admiral-nimitz"
Started a new book.
I'm currently working on a new historical novel, "Course to Midway." Of course the title might change as I progress, but at this point I'm planning on centering my novel around the major players in the Battle of Midway, and two regular seamen who get to work with Admiral Nimitz. From what I've read, that would have been an honor. He was quite a sailor.
What this post is about is that in doing my research, I started a historical work, "Pacific Crucible" by Ian Toll. So far I've enjoyed the book, easy writing style, knowledgeable author, and well researched. But what gets to me is that in the section of the book telling the immediate buildup to Midway, Mr. Toll states, that contrary to popular belief, the carrier Yorktown was repaired adequately to steam forth to meet the Japanese. The three previous books I've read have stated that it limped out of Pearl Harbor, if a carrier can limp, and that it was not nearly as effective as it could have been if we had had time to repair it completely. My point is that if you are going to write historical fiction, you owe it to the people you writing about to research your subject well. I ran into this problem when I researched "The Boys of Chattanooga," the story of the most incredible charge of the American Civil War. Historical fiction might be fiction, but the author owes it to his readers to keep it accurate. Journey into fiction when you make up fictional characters, but let the actions they portray be real.
What this post is about is that in doing my research, I started a historical work, "Pacific Crucible" by Ian Toll. So far I've enjoyed the book, easy writing style, knowledgeable author, and well researched. But what gets to me is that in the section of the book telling the immediate buildup to Midway, Mr. Toll states, that contrary to popular belief, the carrier Yorktown was repaired adequately to steam forth to meet the Japanese. The three previous books I've read have stated that it limped out of Pearl Harbor, if a carrier can limp, and that it was not nearly as effective as it could have been if we had had time to repair it completely. My point is that if you are going to write historical fiction, you owe it to the people you writing about to research your subject well. I ran into this problem when I researched "The Boys of Chattanooga," the story of the most incredible charge of the American Civil War. Historical fiction might be fiction, but the author owes it to his readers to keep it accurate. Journey into fiction when you make up fictional characters, but let the actions they portray be real.
