Crossing the Line

In this memoir of life aboard aircraft carriers during World War II, Alvin Kernan combines vivid recollections of his experience as a young enlisted sailor with a rich historical account of the Pacific war. "One of the most arresting naval autobiographies yet published."-Sir John Keegan "An honest story of collective courage, evocative, well-written, and fixed before the colors fade."-Kirkus Reviews "[Kernan] recounts a wonderful and exciting American story about a poor farm boy from Wyoming who enlisted in the Navy. . . .[He] has written eight other books. I will go back and read them all."-John Lehman, Air & Space "Details . . . make the moment vivid; that is what it was like, on the Hornet in its last hours."-Samuel Hynes, New York Times Book Review