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Steel Shards

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Bidwell Moore's "Steel Shards" is a wartime novel that relates the adventures of a young soldier, Captain Kimbro Sawyer of the American First Division, who fights on the side of the Allied Forces in the Second World War. A sensitive and observant individual, Captain Sawyer observes relationships between people from different countries during wartime. He realizes that though people from different countries and cultures may be different in many ways, they share many common concerns and feelings. With no prejudice of preconceived notions, this book examines human relations during the difficult time of war.

The book begins when the protagonist sets out for England onboard the "Queen Mary" in 1942. The ship contains one of the first shipments of American soldiers sent over to England for training with British troops. It marks the beginning of America joining the war on the side of the Allies forces. As the commanding officer of an anti-tank company, Sawyer finds himself sucked into a whirlpool of intrigue, rivalry, and deceit. He soon meets Nadine Denis, a beautiful Englishwoman who is Major Despan's cousin. Despan is the officer from the British War Office who is given the charge of keeping the news of the arrival of American troops a secret from the Germans. In a desperate attempt to gain the upper hand over the Allies, German agents try to force Nadine to divulge details of the Allied troops' battle plans. Torn between loyalties, Nadine struggles with the morality of the situation. She has both English and German relatives and is unable to decide the future of her life. At the same time, Sawyer sees his share of fighting on different fronts all over the world. Both struggle to overcome the numerous challenges presented by their enemies and emerge triumphant. The characters' struggle also embodies the desire of individuals around the world to have a peaceful world based on mutual trust and friendship.

Bidwell Moore's book successfully removes cloaks of half-truths and propaganda created by politicians to cover up their selfish motives from posterity. This book goes on to establish that people from different cultures can work out mutual differences and live together in peace and friendship. Drawing on his personal experiences as a soldier Bidwell Moore has successfully recreated the period of the 1940s. The setting, characters, and plot make this book a truly engrossing read.

There is no effect without a cause. "If You Want a Harvest, You Have to be Willing to Cultivate the Soil" is the work of a highly educated and devout Virginian pastor of Dr. T. Darnell Saunders. A self-help book that draws heavily from the motivational and encouraging passages from the Holy Bible, "If You Want a Harvest , You Have to be Willing to Cultivate the Soil" is an absolute must for any Christian who has been facing a long chain of gloomy days.

Moore is a narrator with an eye, indeed, a love, for details. In Steel Shards, he turns his talents to the world of World War II. Once again, as is so often the case with Moore's work, he turns away from the excitement of the atmosphere and hones in on provide honest, faithful, and respectful renditions of his characters.

In Steel Shards, we find ourselves following, with a broad scope, the actions of Captain Kimbro, baptized Anthony, Sawyer. He's a soldier, in World War II, and like so many soldiers, he was involved in the tragic excitement of war. Here we can follow one soldier's progress through many theaters of the devastating war. We can follow the military strategies and personal efforts of the soldiers.

But this is not all about the war. This is about soldiers, about the narrations of their individual experiences in combat, abroad, and at rest. It involves the people he meets in his time, and the people he loses. In this work, Moore shows the effects of absolute and fatal violence and large scale chaos on the human spirit.

For a new take on a war so long studied and never well-understood, pick up this book. Moore's respectful and detailed recount gives a human context to an inhuman war, and paints his characters with the dignity and honesty all people deserve.

With a degree in History and a deep interest in all things military it is not often that I learn something new and amazing. For example, who would have guessed that the United States military's first target in World War 2 were the French!

That is just one of the many revelations in Bidwell Moore's, "Steel Shards." Through Captain Kimbro Sawyer we learn a great many things about the real lives of the people swept away by the greatest event of the 20th Century.

Unlike the books of Tom Clancy "Steel Shards" does not worship every soldier and every weapon. Rather, it tells the real story of what it was like to be in Europe in 1942 through believable characters with realistic flaws.

Captain Sawyer is transpoted across the Atlantic aboard the Queen Mary. While on board, the reader is introduced to a likable but realistic character.

Upon arriving Captain Sawyer meets Nadine Denis, a beautiful and clever woman tasked with keeping a crucial secret, the date American troops will arrive. Nadine is beset by German agents that will stop at nothing to learn what she knows. Nadine has English AND German family and therefore must struggle through unimaginable pressure from both sides.

Captain Sawyers loyalty is clear but his many missions are not. Sawyer fights in different actions across the many battlefields of World War 2, culminating with an assault on Omaha Beach. Unlike other books in this genre, these battlefields were not fictional, but real history where the fate of the world hung in the balance.

This book is engagingly written and painstakingly researched. The detail is so rich and the characters and their flaws are so real that the author must have lived through similar action himself.

"Steel Shards" tears down many of the half-truths and outright lies of World War 2, chiefly the character and role of the leaders and soldiers of France. It also portrays the German soldiers and people not as monsters, but the regular men and women they were--swept into a disaster not of there making.

"Steel Shards" is a literary landmark that should be required reading for officers, soldiers and historians.

any book that is written, be it a novel or something else is written for a reason. the reason can be either to satisfy an artistic impulse or to let people know something .. i mean to impart knowledge or just plainly commercial. however this novel does not fall into any of these categories. it would be surprising if the author thought that this novel would earn money, as i am sure it wont. it doesnt impart any knowledge, and of course it does not satisf any artistic impulse. so why did he write it?

well that is the million dollar question!! similar to why i am writing this review?! i guess i have a better reason than lidwell in the sense i am imparting knowledge to the innocent reader who might be tempted by the blurb of the book into thinking that it would be a satidfying read..hell! NO! it isnt..and well readers beware before venturing to buy or even borrow or even for that matter steal this book..