That Others Might Live: The U.S. Life-Saving Service, 1878-1915

Toughness isn't new, nor sacrifice, nor valor. Denis Noble, again, does a perfect job in explaining the reality of the history of our great service. Buy it. Read it.

Dennis L. Noble fills in a longstanding gap in the history of the US Coast Guard by detailing the trials and accomplishments of the US Life-Saving Service. The book is a brief but comprehensive chronicle of how a relatively few people made a difference in protecting shipwrecked mariners. Noble provides details of the daily lives of those who served as well as their equipment. The narrative is crisp and quick-paced, but doesn't skimp on the details.

This is an outstanding work that brings to life these heros of the surf. Much of the Life-Saving service has been forgotten, but Noble brings new life to the history of the service. He is an outstanding researcher and a terrific writer. Being an author of Great Lakes maritime history myself, I looked very carefully at this writer's work and found it to be very complete and highly detailed. I will add all of his books to my personal research library.-Wes Oleszewski, Great Lakes author.