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Descent into Darkness
- Pearl Harbor, 1941, A Navy Diver's Memoir
- Narrated by: Peter Johnson
- Length: 7 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged Audiobook
- Categories: Biographies & Memoirs, Historical
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Publisher's Summary
On December 7, 1941, as the great battleships Arizona, Oklahoma, and Utah lie paralyzed and burning in the aftermath of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. A crack team of U.S. Navy salvage divers headed by Edward C. Raymer are hurriedly flown to Oahu from the mainland. Their two-part orders are direct and straightforward: (1) rescue as many trapped sailors and Marines as possible, and (2) resurrect what remains of America's once mighty pacific fleet. Descent Into Darkness tells their story.
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What listeners say about Descent into Darkness
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Matthew
- 10-14-15
A Massive Disappointment
I can’t even finish this book with only 2.5 hours left. I bought this book based on two things; Ian Toll referenced Cdr. Raymer’s experiences at Pearl Harbor in Pacific Crucible which fascinated me and the Audible reviews for this book were all good. So, even though I felt from the audio sample that the narration was monotone I was hoping the story would make up for it; it didn’t. The narration goes beyond monotone too purely mechanical within a few minutes and becomes nearly unbearable. It doesn’t grow on you and it doesn’t get better with time as some do. I held out hoping that a story would be told that would captivate me and keep me going, but that didn’t happen. After listening to Peter Johnson on other samples I’m convinced that it’s the book’s writing more then the narrator that makes me write this. No narrator could make this book better and that’s a truly hard thing to say about such a topic.
The book starts out fairly good when he starts describing the attack on Pearl Harbor and the diving, but it quickly devolves into a series of unnecessary, uninteresting and disconnected stories about how he and his fellow divers try to build stills, obtain alcohol, woo waitresses, or visit prostitutes. By the fifth hour the book goes even further with a pointless anecdote describing the sound of the bedsprings squeaking after “Joe had mounted Thelma and was banging away solidly” while another diver looked on. This was yet another tale that lent absolutely nothing to the overall story and brought no context to the larger events whatsoever. Occasionally, in between things like explaining how the war liberated Hawaii’s hookers from their madams, the book does talk about diving on one of the warships in the harbor. It gives a snippet of a story about the USS Nevada or USS West Virginia, but then it jumps in the next paragraph right back to another story of the off duty vice of the divers. Yes, when he’s actually talking about the diving it’s very interesting and very sad and it brings you into the situation, but these points only cover about half of the book; maybe. I appreciate the work all the divers did in Pearl Harbor, but I can’t be sympathetic about the stress they were under which caused them to worry about how they were going to get drunk or have sex when men like my father were languishing in the jungles of Asia and other men were being depth charged on subs, or attacked by dive-bombers on a daily basis.
Granted, it does say “A Navy Diver’s Memoir” so I get that some of the story telling will be disconnected, but this is not a good book. I don’t like being so harsh for such a brave man, but it would’ve been better if he had used a ghostwriter or a biographer to tell his story. I think that could have produced a very good book.
11 people found this helpful
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- A. N. Onymous
- 06-16-13
Amazing History!
I first read this book back in the summer of 1996. Since then, I had lost my copy and was very pleased to see that they have published more now. It is as fasinating and informative now as it was back then. As a naval history fan, this book is one that really filled in what happened after the bombs stopped falling. I cant imagine what it must have been like for the men who lived through the events Mr. Raymer writes about. He really conveys the experiences and makes you feel like you are there next to him trying to make your way through complete darkness knowing that the bodies of your fellow sailors surround you. Mr. Raymer is not only an outstanding man for the work he did during the war, but also as an author, who 72 years later still keeps history alive.
5 people found this helpful
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- UR
- 02-24-19
Amazing story
I'm a commercial welder/diver currently working on repairs to the USS Missouri right near the Arizona. I'm thoroughly amazed by what these men were able to accomplish in those conditions, with the technology of the period, and in such a short amount of time.
2 people found this helpful
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- Jade Newhouse
- 03-27-15
Flawless
Very well written and narrated, If I closed my eyes I felt like I was in some of these situations.
2 people found this helpful
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- D.S. Oppenheim
- 09-13-20
A story for Navy Divers
Being a Navy Diver for over 30 years, I can really appreciate the stories as told by Ed Raymer. I think to fully understand and enjoy this book, it really helps to have been a Mk V diver, and experience the challenge of the dive rig and working inside sunken ships and on hogging lines. Definitely not a literary masterpiece, but a great Navy story!
1 person found this helpful
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- DiverTom
- 07-15-16
As a commercial driver I want to thank you
This is an excellent book for any history buff or anyone looking to be come a commercial diver. A lot of the technology developed in this book are still used today. Well done Diver
1 person found this helpful
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- Christopher
- 04-18-15
Great read start to finish
Very well written and read. An easy and interesting listen. The narration was excellent, and the story kept my interest.
2 people found this helpful
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- A Dog
- 12-16-21
A WW2 Memoir w Salvaging Pearl Harbor as the Hook
This memoir was written half a century after the war giving the author a good deal of time to reflect on the matter before setting his story down. The hook here is that he was a diver working on battleships in Pearl Harbor after the attack for most of the memoir. (He does go to the South Pacific and Guadalcanal mid August 1942 but returns on April 1943 to finish up, the memoir ending in March 1944 when he departed Pearl Harbor for the final time.)
He goes into many of the problems they had, both technical and bureaucratic, and describes life as a diver at Pearl Harbor and life in Pearl Harbor during the war. It's an interesting slice of life of a time gone by, but not nostalgic, as some of what went on was appalling.
So, if you're interested in a memoir, this may be for you. If all you want to hear about is the salvage, you may be disappointed.
The narrator is nothing special, hence the three star rating.
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- Duane V. Rigge
- 08-13-21
The true story of the salvage work at Pearl Harbor
Compelling story of the bravery of the salvage drivers at Pearl Harbor after the December 7 attack by the Japanese!
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- Drew Williams
- 05-25-21
Get it.
Was a little tough getting into the narrator at first. When I got past that, it was truly a great listen.
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- Richard Lewis
- 02-08-22
Raising wrecks, against the odds
The young divers who tackled the seemingly impossible task of raising the wrecked ships at Pearl Harbour put themselves in harms way in a nightmare confined space shared with decomposing bodies. I liked the stories of the dives, less so the recounting of their exploits with women ashore.