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The Corps, Book 2: Call To Arms | 
| Author: W. E. B. Griffin
Publisher: Jove
Category: Book
List Price: $7.99
Buy Used: $0.01
You Save: $7.98 (100%)
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Avg. Customer Rating:  13 reviews
Sales Rank: 21387
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 356
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.4
Dimensions (in): 6.8 x 4.1 x 1
ISBN: 0515093491
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
EAN: 9780515093490
ASIN: 0515093491
Publication Date: September 1, 1987
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: Well read with wear on edges, binding, and covers, but in fine reading condition. Great book at a great value. NEXT DAY SHIPPING!
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Product Description
W.E.B. Griffin's epic story of the Marine Corps continues with an elite fraternity known as the Raiders taking form after the attack on Pearl Harbor.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 8 more reviews...
 The Corps series June 18, 2008
I think W.E.B Griffin(his real name is William E. Butterworth)is the best current day writer. I highly recommend this and all of his other books. This book is number 2 of 10 in the Corps series
 Griffin's continuation of Semper Fi August 18, 2007
In this second book of the Corps series, "Killer" McCoy is recruited by some Marine Corps brass to spy, not on the Japanese, but on Colonel Evans Carlson, an unconventional officer with connections to President Roosevelt who is forming an unconventional unit to conduct guerrilla attacks on isolated Japanese held islands. He joins the unit, reports on Carlson, plays his role in training, and participates in the first action - which is only cursorily described by Griffin, who does not seem much interested in action scenes.
There is also a continuation of the love story between McCoy and his rich girlfriend, and a new love story between Pick Pickering and the widow of a dead pilot.
There is plenty to like about Griffin's books: his attention to historical accuracy, his technical detail, his insightful characterization of the life and backgrounds of professional soldiers. Griffin is a very competent professional writer with a clear love of the people he portrays. However there are also many flaws.
The love stories, and the characters themselves, are pretty simple adolescent dreams of life. The two Marines (McCoy and Pick) live in lavish quarters. They have access to resources that few real Marines could ever have. McCoy is not just smart, brave, and a real killer Marine, he's also fluent in four languages that he picked up entirely on his own. Pick is not just a good pilot, he's a natural born aviator who can do things in his first flight in an airplane that most cannot do until the end of training. The prostitutes they visit are not just young and good looking, they're the best of the best. Their girlfriends are not just pretty, they're rich, well connected and willing to break all the social conventions to give their men what they need.
I guess this is the stuff that young soldiers dream about and never have. Griffin's books help them to dream on. One reviewer here called it soap opera, and it's hard to disagree.
For those interested in grittier and perhaps more realistic, if less technical, views of military life, have a look at Irwin Shaw's _The Young Lions_, or Norman Mailer's _The Naked and the Dead_, or James Jones' _From Here to Eternity_.
I can't deny however that it wasn't a bad read.
Griffin is masterful! May 7, 2007
This book is part of the Corps series and the entire series is superbly written. Griffin develops his characters so they are realistic and a twisting plot that leads the reader through the lives of the characters.
Another CORPS Novel from WEB Griffin March 13, 2007
THE CORPS is the best novel series I have read. It is FICTION, PEOPLE. Some complain about the re telling of the previous characters in every book. This makes the series readable non-sequentially. I bought most of the series used, out of sequence, and could easily keep up with the story. Good historical fiction is an artform, Griffin has painted his Guernica in the form of this series. It has encouraged me to delve into 20th century USMC research further. I hope they make a movie out of it someday. I would see it 50 times and buy the DVD.
Just fine as a semi-historical war novel January 14, 2007
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
If you buy a W E B Griffin novel looking for shootin' and lootin' combat action, you'll probably be a little disappointed. For new readers, I strongly recommend the first two volumes of The Corps series. As an ensemble, the characters are the most compelling of Griffin's works and the stories follow a mostly historical time line. Readers whose view of WWll comes from old B&W movies may find the carousing a little rugged although the "Platoon" and "Apocalypse Now" generation will find the sex and drinking pretty conventional.
Griffin provides his readers a slightly different angle or angles, offering multiple intertwined stories which are more or less connected within the context of the whole. Sometimes, this works well, sometimes less so, depending really upon how well he manages to tie the whole thing together in the last few pages.
If this appeals to you there are a couple of other things you may want to consider before beginning your journey into Griffin's micro version of history. The most obvious is that the books are written in series form, "The Corps", Brotherhood of War", "Honorbound", etc, and while you probably will want to read them in their proper order, (numbered for your convenience, Book l, Book ll, and so on), you may find reading them straight through a bit wearisome. This is due to the Author's practice of bringing new readers up to speed on the reoccurring characters, (reading the story on Ken McCoy's nickname for the third or fourth time, if done in too short a time frame, is off putting).
Another artistic conceit is Griffin's love of the "small world phenomena", (think Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon), all of his primary cast not only know each other through family, or business associations, or mutual friends or a shared experience, they somehow manage to be tied to famous persons of the time. To enjoy the Griffin books you'll just have to suspend reality a bit and just go with it. Get used to guest appearances by "Dugout Doug MacArthur and FDR.
You also may be a little impatient with some of the editing and although most folks who read these as military or history buffs won't mind the routine technical references to uniforms, weapons, rations, and other gear, the casual reader might. I found the earliest "Corps" and "Brotherhood" stories strongest and his later work, and the "Badge of Honor" series to be a little less focused.
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