Rickover: Controversy and Genius - A Biography [Paperback]

Thomas B. Allen (Author), Norman Polmar (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1982

Hyman G. Rickover was not long removed from his Jewish roots in Poland when he graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1922. After a respectable career spent mostly in unglamorous submarine and engineering billets, he took command of the U.S. Navy’s nuclear propulsion program and revived his career, being retired—involuntarily—some thirty years later in early 1982. He was not only the architect of the nuclear Navy but also its builder. In the process, he erected a network of power and influence that rivaled those who were elected to high office, and that protected him from them when his controversial methods became objectionable or, as critics would suggest, undermined the nation’s vital interests. Authors Thomas B. Allen and Norman Polmar, whose full-length biography of Rickover (in manuscript in 1981) was consulted by the Reagan Administration during the decision to remove him from active duty, are eminently qualified to write an essential treatment on the controversial genius of Admiral Rickover.

--This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

Military Profiles are essential treatments of the lives of significant historical figures. Each book includes the details that one finds in a full-length biography and addresses a theme that explains which aspects of a subject's character, background, or behaviour makes him or her worthy of our attention today. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

About the Author

Thomas B. Allen is an author and editor. For more than fifteen years he served with the National Geographic Society as associate chief of the book service. He edited the million-plus bestseller We Americans and has published numerous works of fiction and non-fiction, including War Games. Allen and Polmar have collaborated in writing seven books and numerous articles. Both live in the Washington area.

Norman Polmar is a leading expert on naval and aviation matters. An internationally known analyst, consultant, and award-winning author, Polmar has written more than 40 books, including, with K. J. Moore, Cold War Submarines: The Design and Construction of U.S. and Soviet Submarines (Brassey’s, ISBN 1-57488-594-4) and Historic Naval Aircraft: From the Pages of Naval History Magazine (Brassey’s, ISBN 1-57488-572-3). He is a columnist for the U.S. Naval Institute's Proceedings and Naval History magazines. Polmar lives in the Washington, DC, area. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 784 pages
• Publisher: Holiday House; 1st PAPERBACK edition (September 1982)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0671528157
• ISBN-13: 978-0671528157
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.3 x 1.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,314,897 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I have been writing since my teen years, when I covered high school sports for my hometown newspaper, The Herald, in Bridgeport, Conn.
I continued working at the paper while I was in college. In the mid-1950s I began working for The New York Daily News, writing feature stories. In 1963, I left The News, going to Chilton Books in Philadelphia, and then to the National Geographic Book Division. I began freelancing in 1981, but I continued contributing to Geographic publications.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars a former nuclear submariner, December 19, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Rickover: Controversy and Genius - A Biography (Paperback)

Excellent! "Controversial" only begins to describe the intense but very mixed feelings that Navy nucs have toward The Admiral. This book gets under the surface, and shows the man with all his foibles as well as his strengths and achievements. He was a brilliant engineer and leader, but Niccolo Machiavelli could also have learned a great deal from studying his political methods.

12 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars What is the authors beef?, March 27, 2003

By 

Steven M. Hug "Rod Hug" (Santa Rosa, CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Rickover: Controversy and Genius - A Biography (Paperback)

The book might have been more appropriately titled, "A careless criticism of Hyman Rickover". For a careless criticism it is. The authors, unfairly in my view, portray Rickover as a man with great power and a narrow view. But worse, the theme that runs through the book is an implicit accusation that Rickover has long exploited other people and the "other Navy" to further his personal goals. The theme is supported with innuendo, but not facts.
Why the authors wanted to do this is not hinted at, except, perhaps, an admission that while Rickover granted other authors rights to his autobiography, he would not even discuss it with the authors of this book. Rickover simply told them, " I don't want a book written about me".

Having worked for Admiral Rickover for 30 years, I know much about his policies. And I understand why his policies were what they were. Rickover's whole thrust was to insure safety on nuclear submarines. The authors failed to understand this, perhaps because neither of them has experience in the Navy nuclear power division, and from a reading of the book, neither appears to have technical training.

The US Congress and the "other Navy" understood very well how important a contribution Rickover was making to America's strategic weapons arsenal. Both understood very well that an immaculate safety record on US nuclear submarines was the primary reason the public supported ship born nuclear power. But the authors did not grasp this.

It is important to note that, while Rickover had a lock on all aspects of nuclear power use on US Navy ships, and hundreds of reactors were used, the first land based reactor not under Rickover's control (Three Mile Island) had a melt down, and killed land based nuclear power generation in the minds of the public. Had Three Mile Island been Rickover's responsibility, we might to this day be getting significant electric power from nuclear reactors.

An example of the blatantly false claims made by the authors in an apparent effort to discredit Rickover, they claimed that the submarine Thresher sank because the reactor scrammed. The Congressional Investigating Committee and the Navy found that the probable cause was a failed pipe joint in a system subject to submergence pressure. That the Committee and the Navy thought the root cause lie outside the nuclear power plant is best seen by looking at the corrective action taken. The corrective action was to establish what came to be known as the Subsafe Program. The Subsafe Program changed the way all parts of the submarine that affect safety, starting the pressure hull itself, were manufactured, inspected, certified, and maintained. Notably, the nuclear power plant procedures were not changed because Rickover's policies were considered sufficient. The authors do not mention the Subsafe Program in this book.

The authors even attacked the personal life of Rickover's wife after she passed on.

The book is also poorly written. The two authors appear to have written different chapters without comparing notes, because much of the chapters rehash the same material. Many of Rickover's quotes are stated two times. This makes for tiresome reading.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars More about Rickover than one would want to know, August 27, 2002

By 

C. Pales (Charlottesville, VA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Rickover: Controversy and Genius - A Biography (Paperback)

As a biography, this book covers everything that anyone would want to know about ADM Rickover, and then some. Anyone wondering how someone who despised (and was despised by) his own service could still flourish in it should read this book. It provides a readable description of how Rickover picked his friends and enemies wisely through much of his career. If there is one chapter that is a MUST read, it's "A Fascinating Experience," which describes the infamous Rickover interview process that reduced many a young navy officer to a quivering bag of nerves.

Less would have probably been better for this book, however, as the last 200 pages seem to drag with an increasingly vindictive assessment of Rickover's impact through the 1970s. Not that Rickover didn't turn from "yesterday's visionary" to "today's conservative," and eventually "tomorrow's reactionary." He did. It's just that the point is hammered home relentlessly.

Many have said that Rickover advanced the Navy by 20 years, while others claim he set it back 20 years. You'll see why by reading this book.