The Caine mutiny
by Herman Wouk · first published 1951
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2016–2024first – last mentioned
29% recommend71% neutral
Winner of the Pulitzer Prize this atmospheric novel tells the story in flashback of a mutiny aboard a United States minesweeper during WW2. The murky events of the mutiny emerge during a court-martial and it soon becomes clear that few people will emerge from the trial with any credit.
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I need to read Wouk’s other books. I’ve read Caine Mutiny three times, Winds of War once, and that’s it. Which should I read next?
on “Elon Musk's letter to all Twitter employees” ↗Another great sea story: The Caine Mutiny by Herman Wouk.
on “Ask HN: Read any good books lately?” ↗> Great saying (I think Israeli) - "the army is a system built by geniuses to control idiots". That's a variation on a line from Herman Wouk's World War II novel The Caine Mutiny, in which one character says that the Navy is a system designed by geniuses for execution by idiots.
on “College Unaffordable Even in Higher Income Brackets” ↗The film The Caine Mutiny helped inspire the 25th amendment to the US Constitution. That's based on a book, so even if you want to narrow it to literature, it still works. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2018/09/1...…
on “Has Literature Ever Changed the Course of History?” ↗…get longer and longer, and, as you say, harder to read. Examples include Robert Heinlein in Science Fiction, James Michener in general fiction, Herman Wouk in general fiction. For Wouk, his well known Caine Mutiny is a fairly long book, but it's tightly written. Later works not so much.
on “Ask HN: How to level up your technical writing?” ↗"The Navy is a master plan designed by geniuses for execution by idiots." - Herman Wouk, The Caine Mutiny This is completely true. 18-20-year-old kids launch and arrest aircraft on a carrier while simultaneously performing an underway replenishment, and it's just another day.
on “Basic Mechanisms In Fire Control Computers (1953) [video]” ↗"Winds of War" and "War and Remembrance" by Herman Wouk. Written in the 1970s, from the perspective of a Jewish-American family. He also earlier wrote Pulitzer-Prize-winning "The Caine Mutiny" in 1951, it was a good book but not as enjoyable as the other two. He fought in the Pacific Theater during WWII and so lived it. (I also remember his 1948 "City Boy" being a hilarious tale of a Jewish…
on “The Trap of Fairytale Victory Endings in Historical Fiction” ↗