"... Satterfield presents an interesting narrative of denial: the brothers' denial of inherent danger, the Navy's denial of the potential loss of ship and crew, the Sullivan famiy's psychological denial of the deaths, and the community's denial of the stages of grief. From the beginning, no one wanted to belieeve such a catastrophe could happen, and once it occurred, no one knew how to deal with it. As the author well documents, the military sanitized and mythologized the Sullivan family personalities and history, the family set aside their own grief to participate fully in the national solemnization of the deaths, and Waterloo repudiated the significance of the disaster. The Sullivan calamity is not just about five brothers; it is a tragic chapter in the annals of America and Iowa. -- Stephen D. Regan, The Annals of Iowa, Spring, 1996
"A new book about Waterloo's five Sullivan brothers is an attempt to depict them as they were: Ordinary guys from an average town who, together with millions of other ordinary Americans, performed extraordinary service during the largest, most terrible war in world history." -- Pat Kinney, Waterloo Courier, February 17, 1995
"A stirring account of perhaps the most famous Navy family of the war." -- Sea Power, June 1995
"Early in his book, Satterfield gives a riveting account of the moment when Tom Sullivan was told his five sons were lost at sea. The elder Sullivan was up early, preparing to go to work on the railroad when he saw three men in uniforn-a lieutenant commander, a doctor and a chief petty officer-approach his front door. "I have some news for you about your boys," the naval officer said. "Which one?" asked Tom. "I'm sorry," the officer replied. "All five." -- Ed Gebhart, Delaware County Daily Times, June 16, 1996
