Book Report #2 - "No Greater Glory"

I picked up a copy of Dan Kurzman's new book, "No Greater Glory: The Four Immortal Chaplains and the Sinking of the Dorchester in World War II", published by Random House in 2004.

The story may not be as well known as it once was. The Dorchester, a pleasure liner converted into a troop carrier, was torpedoed by a German submarine, while on its way to Greenland in February, 1943. On board were four chaplains, two Protestant, one Catholic and one Jewish. The majority of the crew perished, although many crew members were saved by use of overcrowded life boats. The four chaplains went down with the ship, ministering to the others, helping them cope with the tragedy, assisting them leaving the ship, giving up their own life jackets and gloves, saying prayers, and standing, arms linked one to another as the ship went down. A story of devotion, and of four men who overcame religious and denominational differences to serve a higher purpose.

The story is even more interesting to me because the rabbi, Alexander Goode, was married to a woman named Theresa Flax. Theresa's mother was the sister of singer Al Jolson, and therefore the first cousin of my father. I believe this made Theresa my second cousin (if my reckoning is correct). Theresa Flax Goode Kaplan (whom I had an opportunity to meet, but never did) lived on Willard Avenue in Chevy Chase; she died just a year or two ago. I believe she was in her upper 80s.

The book is a one night book, unless you are going to study every word. But this does not mean it to be less worthwhile. It is a study of the background and character of these four men (interesting in and of itself), gives a little information on how the war was being fought in the North Atlantic, and through interviews with survivors, tells of life on the Dorchester on its way from St. John's, Newfoundland, to Greenland, and the chaos of the hit, the sinking and the rescue.

And, from long time journalist and author Kurzman, it is an easy and fluid read.

Although I own a few other books by Kurzman, I do not think that I have read any. But his range of writing is broad: Biographies of Yitzhak Rabin and David Ben Gurion, the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, the Spanish Civil War, the Warsaw Ghetto uprising, Hiroshima, Japan, the Dominican Republic, Bhopal and the San Francisco Earthquake.

The copy I bought, at Second Story Books in Washington, was signed as follows: "To Senator John Kerry, a great war hero and the next president of the United States. With warmest wishes, Dan Kurzman". How did this book, published in 2004, in pristine condition, inscribed in this manner, get on the bookshelves of a second hand book store? Did Kerry ever receive it? Who knows?