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The Code Talkers
mass market paperback book
Paperback
First published December 1, 1990
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
June 10, 2023
[Reading Prompt: A Book About a Little Known Event in History]
I was estatic when I stumbled on this book at a Booksman's last year, as the Navaho Code Talkers were a bit of lesser known history that I knew about. And with falling in love with historical fiction last year, I honestly couldn't wait to get started.
And for the most part, this book held up. It has a very slow, almost methodical beginning, with some very stereotypical (I feel anyways) portrayal of Native American men. But once you get into the thick of the war, and the two main protagonists begin their true jounrey, does the book really come to life.
It becomes intense, page turning story telling. You'll come to love all of the marines that Redhawk and Johns meet and befriend, all of which have their own unique personalities. The author does a very good job at detailing the military operations of the marines during the war, never truly feeling as boring as reading a dense history book but at times feeling just as informative. The stakes and drama are all here and they play out quite nicely.
I was especially excited, and the main reason why I wanted to read this book, to see how the Navajo language was used as a code. Because despite knowing of their existence and importance during WW2, I couldn't ever really explain how the code worked. And this book does a great job going into detail on that, and explains it in an interesting manner. Loved learning that the language was mistaken by historians as being a very primitive language, not realizing how complex it was. And how they used Navajo words for 'apple', 'axe', to be interposed for worlds beginning with 'a', and how they gave names to all kinds of military vehicles and weapons.
As for the depiction of Native Americans, especially the Navajo, I can't really speak to the accuracy there. There were a few things that off the top of my head, did not seem to be portrayed accurately, but its not for me to say or to say otherwise. I will say that these characters seemed to be treated with respect and well intentions.
Overall, a solid wartime book about a very important but often lesser known group of marines.
I was estatic when I stumbled on this book at a Booksman's last year, as the Navaho Code Talkers were a bit of lesser known history that I knew about. And with falling in love with historical fiction last year, I honestly couldn't wait to get started.
And for the most part, this book held up. It has a very slow, almost methodical beginning, with some very stereotypical (I feel anyways) portrayal of Native American men. But once you get into the thick of the war, and the two main protagonists begin their true jounrey, does the book really come to life.
It becomes intense, page turning story telling. You'll come to love all of the marines that Redhawk and Johns meet and befriend, all of which have their own unique personalities. The author does a very good job at detailing the military operations of the marines during the war, never truly feeling as boring as reading a dense history book but at times feeling just as informative. The stakes and drama are all here and they play out quite nicely.
I was especially excited, and the main reason why I wanted to read this book, to see how the Navajo language was used as a code. Because despite knowing of their existence and importance during WW2, I couldn't ever really explain how the code worked. And this book does a great job going into detail on that, and explains it in an interesting manner. Loved learning that the language was mistaken by historians as being a very primitive language, not realizing how complex it was. And how they used Navajo words for 'apple', 'axe', to be interposed for worlds beginning with 'a', and how they gave names to all kinds of military vehicles and weapons.
As for the depiction of Native Americans, especially the Navajo, I can't really speak to the accuracy there. There were a few things that off the top of my head, did not seem to be portrayed accurately, but its not for me to say or to say otherwise. I will say that these characters seemed to be treated with respect and well intentions.
Overall, a solid wartime book about a very important but often lesser known group of marines.
Displaying 1 of 1 review