Hi gang, I’m searching for a new book topic and I’m always impressed with the depth of knowledge here, especially with arcane subjects and little known events.
So does anyone have an idea for my next book? I have published several popular non-fiction narratives of true stories, mostly from WW2 and Vietnam. Here are a few of the criteria that makes a story work for me:
Recent enough that there are participants still alive to talk to, as opposed to only document research. (This is increasingly hard to find with WW2 stories, unfortunately.)
The story is not widely known. It doesn’t have to be a complete secret but it hasn’t received a lot of attention and there aren’t already five books on Amazon about it.
There is a dramatic story to tell, rather than it being an interesting topic but not really a story.
That story preferably takes place over time, rather than a singular event that is over in hours, no matter how dramatic. (A lot of Medal of Honor stories, for instance, are very dramatic but don’t last long enough to tell the story in a whole book.)There are some exceptions to this if the event is big enough that it involves a lot of people whose stories can be told.
The story involves the American military in some form. Or perhaps law enforcement or the fire and rescue services. It’s my niche for this writing.
Bonus points if there is something to reveal, a wrong to be righted, someone’s name to be cleared, long overdue recognition to be brought, etc.
So I’m looking for that story you’ve heard and said, “why hasn’t anyone written a book or made a movie about that?”
I’m happy to hear any ideas, including anyone’s personal stories or those of your relatives. If it’s something you don’t wish to discuss publicly at this point, feel free to PM me. FYI, my books are known for taking a sensitive and respectful approach to what are often traumatic experiences of the subjects. More on that privately, if it’s a concern.
Off the top of my head, some dramatic stories involving the US government’s military, police or fire rescue include: how and why piracy seems to have declined, and hostages besides Captain Phillips were rescued, in the Horn of Africa region; US Special Forces in West Africa, like the Tongo Tongo ambush; advisers assisting the Iraqi Army in clearing out ISIS/Daesh from Mosul and Northern Iraq. In those interventions, I would think there has to be a non-combatant rescue that hasn’t already received a lot of ink. Perhaps the various rescues and FID that Special Forces have done on Mindanao, assisting the Phillippine Army in their fight against Abu Sayyaf?
I have always thought that the China-Burma-India theater of World War II was under-reported. My father died some years ago, but some of his squadron-mates are still alive.
This may already be sufficiently covered, but maybe something about the looting of antiquities after the US invasion of Iraq? Was there someone in the military who tried to protect them but was prevented from doing so? Are there any good stories to tell about the recovery of some of the artifacts?
Operation Airborne Dragon - It was the invasion of northern Iraq during Operation Iraqi Freedom by airborne troops and Task Force 1-63 Armor to open a northern front. Okay it was less than company strength total for the supporting mech forces despite the name. They deployed with 5 M1A1s and 5 M2 Bradley fighting vehicles.
It’s maybe a touch short for what you want - four days for the major piece with the armor coming in slowly. It can be fleshed out some with a look at the capability being already in existence and trained. It wasn’t an ad hoc task force created just for the war. The impact on the overall operational plan is another possible theme to explore. It certainly didn’t get a lot of press and is an interesting use of heavy forces.
The S3 (Operations Officer) of TF 1-63 wrote an article for Armor magazine that was published later in the year.
This hits all your bullet points except the first: the two colonists that survived the Japanese bombing are now dead, although this faculty member at the UofH has extensive knowledge of the incident as well as the U.S. program that put the colonists there in the first place.