Military Review English Edition November December 2016 | Page 139

BOOK REVIEWS

pilot in Vietnam during America’s war there. ThenLt. Ford served in the Republic of Vietnam from July
1967 through July 1968, flying out of Da Nang and Hue
during his tour of duty.
The book briefly describes Ford’s childhood and
college years in Oklahoma. It also tells of his time at Fort
Wolters, Texas, and Fort Rucker, Alabama, earning his
silver Army Aviator wings. This short part of the book
provides some background into Bob’s upbringing and
provides insight into his values and leadership style.
As promised by the
title, most of the book
focuses on Ford’s time
in Vietnam. He was
assigned to the 282nd
Assault Helicopter
Company, stationed
at Da Nang in I Corps’
area of operations.
After only six weeks
in country, he earned
his rating as an aircraft
commander and was
placed in charge of
the company’s Hue
detachment, described
by Ford as the “further-most northern aviation unit in
Vietnam.”
Much of the book consists of detailed stories of individual missions that Ford and his detachment flew, including combat assaults, casualty evacuation, VIP transport, and a very interesting recount of a downed-pilot
pickup operation. His writing is descriptive and focuses
on the people in the story. The book has a lot of military
and aviation jargon, but not to the point of distraction. A
brief glossary is included.
Being stationed at Hue, Ford had a front-row seat
for the siege of Khe Sanh and the Tet Offensive. His
accounts of the missions during this time are the most
interesting parts of the book. He tells of flying combat assaults and resupply missions into Khe Sanh. He
also describes fighting a three-day ground assault at
Hue. Although Black Cat 2-1 is mostly a story about
aviation, Ford’s story of his participation in the ground
combat there is riveting.
Black Cat 2-1 has several pages of color photographs at
the end of the book, with a page or two of photos or maps
MILITARY REVIEW  November-December 2016

dedicated to nearly each chapter. The photos are very
useful in helping illustrate Ford’s narrative. Although it
would have been less distracting to have the photos within each chapter, their quantity and quality are terrific—
much better than most combat autobiographies.
Almost anyone with an interest in military history
will find Black Cat 2-1 an enjoyable read. In particular,
those with a specific interest in either helicopter combat
or the Vietnam War will especially appreciate the book.
Ford’s presence during a historically noteworthy time and
place in that war increases the significance of his story.
For these reasons, I highly recommend Black Cat 2-1.

Joseph S. Curtis, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas

SACRED INTERESTS

The United States and
the Islamic World, 1821–1921

Karine Walther, University of North Carolina Press,
Chapel Hill, North Carolina, 2015, 480 pages

R

ecent rhetoric has brought Islamophobia to
the forefront of America’s political discourse.
In her thorough history of U.S. attitudes
toward Islam, Sacred Interests: The United States and
the Islamic World, 1821–
1921, Karine Walther
suggests that the hostility
has deep roots in the
early nineteenth-century
history of America. She
argues that a combination of renewed religious
fervor during the Second
Great Awakening, the
mythology of manifest
destiny, transnational
relationships between
informal actors, and the
United States’ initial
foray into colonialism in the Philippines as a member
of the “civilized family of nations” all combined to
shape public and political notions of Islam as diametrically opposed to American values. This essentialist
understanding of Islam helped shape a Manichean
ideology of a clash of civilizations long before Samuel
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