Some of the biographies I read I kind of stumble over, then pick them up and read; this one I did not do that but aggresively hunted down. ISBN 0-375-50191-6 Book has 349 pages; and was published by Random House 1999.
I have only owned it a few hours and what I have gleaned thus far is that Grandfather John McClain was a three star admiral; father John Mclain was a four star admiral; and to put what I already knew into place, Senator John McClain was a Navy Flier. What immediately struck me to the quick one page 1 was the following passage: ... My grandfather loved his children. And my father admired my grandfather above all others. My mother, to whom my father was devoted, once asked him if he loved his father more than he loved her. He replied simply, 'Yes, I believe I do.' (More latter when I unchoke.) To continue, Of course what automatically came to my mind was how diametrically opposed this is to the relationship that has been authored for my son, Stone G. Jones and myself.
...I have just started reading this book, and as I have just finished discussing my gut reaction to the father/father/son relationship above, what occurred to me this morning as I sat down to continue writing where I fell out yesterday, is that at the top of the written material printed on the inside of the dust jacket I encountered the following, "... McCain tells a story that in the words of Newsweek. ' makes the other presidential canidates look like pigmies.' ...." Of course I voted for John McCain, III, but I wish I had read it much earlier and wish I had heard lot fewer of the "old" jokes that were going around at the time he was running for office. My thinking is that this book should have been sent out to each male, former serviceman, registered voter before the election.
Join Kamaroh's KAOG club: which means, kick butt old guy!
I had the good fortune to score this cool old book on EBay. It talks about Carroll Shelby's childhood, his days as a military pilot, his trial and error as a chicken entrepreneur; his road racing success chronicles; his retirement from racing into the Carroll Shelby Racing School in California; the development and production of the Shelby Cobra and the forming of his long relationship with Ford Motor Company. However it stops in 1967 just when your appetite is whetted for the story of the Shelby Cobra Mustang. I'd say the secret to his business success is being a gifted road racer and with the assistance of his famous name, and his smarts and his creativity, being able to attract powerful associates. I have discovered when I read this book that a relationship exists between Mr. Shelby and one of my California heroes, General Chuck Yeager; I understand that Chuck Yeager was one of Caroll Shelby's flight instructors when he was a pilot in the Army Air Force. I read a notation in this book of Chuck Yeager participating in road races in a Shelby; I will have to research that latter on. What is highly interesting to me is the inter-relationship between some of my heroes.
