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The Silver Waterfall: A Novel of the Battle of Midway Paperback – May 18, 2020

by Kevin Miller (Author)
4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 1,406 ratings
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If you’ve wondered what more could be written about the Battle of Midway, here’s the answer: Kevin Miller has delivered the perfect amalgam of vivid military history and unforgettable fiction. Through the viewpoints of the combatants on both sides — pilots, gunners, sailors, fleet commanders — The Silver Waterfall evokes the drama and raw terror of the battle that changed the course of the war. Historical fiction at its best.— Robert Gandt, author of Angels in the Sky and The Twilight Warriors
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  1. Print length
    358 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publication date
    May 18, 2020
  4. Dimensions
    6 x 0.9 x 9 inches
  5. ISBN-10
    1640621156
  6. ISBN-13
    978-1640621152
  7. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

Review

Reviewed by David F, Winkler, Ph.D.
Since its inception, the Naval Historical Foundation book review program has welcomed historical fiction submissions, recognizing that fictional writers, released from the constraints of demonstrating documented sources, can sometimes convey a better sense of what actually happened to a broader audience. Such is the case with The Silver Waterfall, Kevin Miller's first attempt at historical fiction. A retired Navy captain, Miller had earned his wings of gold and first flew A-7 Corsairs before switching to the cockpit of an F/A-18 Hornet. I first met Miller when he had command of VFA-105 embarked in Enterprise in the aftermath of strikes his squadron made against Iraq in December 1998 - an operation called Desert Fox. We later crossed paths when he was Chief Operating Officer of the Naval Aviation Museum Foundation. Since then he has taken to writing. Following in the wake of Tom Clancy in the techno-thriller genre, he has published a trio of contemporary novels drawing on his experience as a naval aviator that have built quite the following.
Turning to the past, Miller now aims to replicate for Midway what Michael Shaara had accomplished for Gettysburg, A gifted story-teller, Miller's depiction of the banter and emotions felt by the participants of the battle - mostly aviators - seems very credible. While he drew on his own time in the cockpit piloting Navy attack jets to relate to the reader the experience of diving on a Japanese carrier in a SBD Dauntless, what's more evident is he spent much time with many of the veterans. Furthermore, during his tenure at the National Naval Aviation Museum in Pensacola, Miller got to know their aircraft.
Like Gettysburg, Midway is a three-day battle. For Shaara the battle climaxes on the third day with George Pickett's charge through the wheat fields which is turned back after bloody hand-to-hand combat. Midway doesn't play out as nicely for Miller. The climax of the battle occurs on the first day when "The Silver Waterfall" descends on Kido Butai to successfully takeout three of the four Japanese carriers supporting the planned seizure of Midway.
Miller handled the challenge of keeping the reader engaged over the following two days by recreating tensions and turmoil that where known to be present between Raymond Spruance, his chief of staff Miles Browning, and the carrier, air group, and squadron commanders. Miller makes it abundantly clear that in the American destruction of four of the Imperial Japanese Navy's finest flattops, that Hornet did not cover itself in glory as its fighter and dive bomber squadrons missed out on the action of June 4 to leave Torpedo Squadron 8 to attack alone and get annihilated.
Indeed, Miller's depiction of the discussions on the bridges of Japanese and American flagships make this book worthy reading material for case studies on command decision making.
What could make the book more suitable for such use is if Miller provided more explanatory footnotes. Because I've read many takes on the battle, including Craig Symonds most recent study, The Battle of Midway (2011), I understood the "backstory." Readers unfamiliar with the battle do not. Miller provides some explanatory notes such as the Mogami-Mukuma collision, but he could have further enhanced his work had he chose to include biographical notes about his featured individuals, factoids about the ships and aircraft involved in the engagement, and additional aspects about the battle that could not be practically included in the narrative.
Overall, did Miller accomplish for Midway what Shaara did for Gettysburg. I would have to answer with a resounding "Yes!"

Kevin Miller. The Silver Waterfall: A Novel of the Battle of Midway. Braveship Books, Los Angeles CA. 2020
Dr. David F. Winkler is the Staff Historian for the Naval Historical Foundation and the 2020-2021 Charles Lindbergh Chair of Aerospace History at the Smithian Institute.

About the Author

Captain Kevin Miller, a 24-year veteran of the U.S. Navy, is a former tactical naval aviator and has flown the F/A-18C Hornet and A-7E Corsair II operationally. He is the author of the Raven One trilogy of contemporary carrier aviation fiction, and lectures on the Battle of Midway.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Braveship Books (May 18, 2020)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 358 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1640621156
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1640621152
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.16 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6 x 0.9 x 9 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 1,406 ratings

About the author

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Kevin Miller

Kevin Miller

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Captain Kevin Miller, a 24-year veteran of the U.S. Navy, is a former tactical naval aviator and has flown the A-7E Corsair II and FA-18 Hornet operationally. He commanded a carrier-based strike-fighter squadron in combat, and, during his career, logged over 1,000 carrier-arrested landings, made possible as he served alongside outstanding men and women as part of a winning team. Captain Miller lives and writes in Pensacola, Florida.

RAVEN ONE, released in June 2014, was his first novel. He published his sequel novel DECLARED HOSTILE in August, 2016. HIGH DESERT REFLECTIONS is a short story about his personal flying experiences in the Navy. FIGHT FIGHT, the third in his RAVEN ONE series, was published in August, 2018.

"I enjoy reading history, and historical fiction from authors such as Michael and Jeff Sharra, Herman Wouk, and Edward L. Beach fascinate me. They write about human beings, flawed and unsure of themselves, under tremendous pressure and caught up in events they cannot control. With RAVEN ONE my goal is to bring the reader with me on a carrier deployment, to join me in the cockpit and be privy to ready room camaraderie, whispered conversations in staterooms, and the level of precision involved with all facets of carrier operations. DECLARED HOSTILE and FIGHT FIGHT take place in other parts of the world, with new antagonists and new leadership challenges. The public response to my novels has been overwhelming."

His long-awaited historical fiction novel about the Battle of Midway, THE SILVER WATERFALL, was released on June 4, 2020. It earned the 2021 Military Writer's Society of America Book Award silver medal in historical fiction.

Customer reviews

4.4 out of 5 stars
4.4 out of 5
1,406 global ratings
History Comes Alive
5 Stars
History Comes Alive
The Battle of Midway has been covered in over fifty books and nearly twenty movies and documentaries so Kevin Miller takes a big risk here with a saturated subject. However, since I really liked his Raven series I thought I would take a chance and I am glad I did! The reason I liked this book is because Kevin's ability to put the reader inside the story as opposed to only being an observer of it, is truly fascinating. I began to believe he was actually there! I wish our school system used books like Kevin's to teach our history. Perhaps we would raise a couple of generations that might even know it!!
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Top reviews from the United States

Ron M.
5.0 out of 5 stars A great read.
Reviewed in the United States on December 23, 2023
Verified Purchase
In The Silver Waterfall, Captain Miller recreates the 1942 Battle of Midway Island by placing us inside dozens of cockpits with pilots who are barely out of their teens, flying out of date and inferior aircraft, against the superior Japanese Zero. Captain Miller is an author who is capable of letting his readers experience the terror, indecision, pain and sometimes elation that those young men faced every day of their often short lives during the war. If you’ve read Captain Miller’s other novels you’ll understand what I mean when I say that this is another can’t-put-it-down reading experience. The perfect book for history buffs, private aviators, and especially teachers wanting to hook their students on WWII. Kevin Miller has combined his background as a career Navy pilot with an endless amount of reading and research to present the reader with a truly accurate and memorable experience. Few writers today can match his ability to capture the experience of combat flying with such realistic detail and excitement. This book is a great read.
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RO
4.0 out of 5 stars Great and riveting read
Reviewed in the United States on May 27, 2023
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The Battle of Midway in a historical novel from the point of view of both sides. The characters are believable, the historical facts are largely correct and the tale is harsh and compelling. Even if you're not a history buff I would recommend it. As a gold star parent I endorse this story as a worthy tribute to those who gave all.
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Dave
5.0 out of 5 stars THE Definitive Story on Midway
Reviewed in the United States on July 27, 2020
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Absolutely must read. I think The Silver Waterfall is THE definitive text on the Battle of Midway, and it will last through the ages. I could not put the book down. In every single vignette, I felt like I was in the cockpit of both American and Japanese aircraft. I felt like I was on the bridge of both American and Japanese carriers, exposed to the same information they knew when they knew it.

Midway is an incredible story, and until I read The Silver Waterfall, I thought I knew a decent amount about the battle. I cannot describe how much more I learned by reading The Silver Waterfall. It is likely that Kevin Miller studied every single document that exists on Midway, and then he compiled all aspects of the battle into one story and used his best-guess dialogue to fill in the unknown gaps and inform the reader.

Since a lot happened in a short period of time, each chapter begins with a time, location, and unit so you can keep track of the events. When the dialogue referenced another unit or person, there were footnotes to help understand who or what was discussed. This feature was very valuable.

Finally, the stirring prose and the detailed account of Midway’s events and the reality of war made the novel very emotional. Historically accurate in every way, this is also a very powerful novel and not for the faint of heart. No other text on the Battle of Midway or another military history book even comes close. The Silver Waterfall should be mandatory reading for all Navy personnel and military history aficionados.
8 people found this helpful
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Price Family
5.0 out of 5 stars Buy this book!
Reviewed in the United States on August 22, 2021
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Absolutely riveting! Although I initially thought this book got off to a somewhat slow start, once the action picked up I simply could not put it down. The author’s depiction of the numerous aerial attacks did a fantastic job conveying an element often absent...the human experience of this epic historical event. I felt as though I were in the cockpit with the fliers as each successive attack was pressed home through withering resistance. The author’s historical research was clearly comprehensive and I feel as though I came away from this book not only thoroughly entertained, but also with a better understanding of the battle than I had going into it. While I was already a fan of the author’s modern works of fiction, I now find myself hoping he’ll give a similar treatment to other carrier battles of WWII. It would be great to see familiar characters reappear as they participate in other engagements throughout the war. A guy can dream! Really, the only con I experienced was that I sometimes found it hard to keep track of who was whom, simply because there were a lot of characters doing similar jobs. *Spoiler* It becomes less of a problem as the story goes on. I’m sure the next time through, and there will be a next time, I will do a better job keeping them straight. Anyway, I wholeheartedly recommend “The Silver Waterfall” to any fan of World War II history. I’ve not only purchased my own personal copy of this book, but gifted it to two other history buffs. Buy this book!
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Vic Faraci
3.0 out of 5 stars Liked It But Didn't Love It
Reviewed in the United States on September 24, 2020
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It's a very good story. History was seamlessly woven into the fiction. Where it falls down is its over abundance of Japanese words and phrases which are not explained. Additionally, Navy and aviation terms, which most readers, including me, wouldn't understand, are used freely. This detracted from my enjoyment of this book.
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Fernando
5.0 out of 5 stars Fantástico libro
Reviewed in Spain on May 28, 2023
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Magnifico libro en el que se describe la odisea personal de una serie de personajes -también japoneses- en la batalla de Midway con todas las incertidumbres y temores de unas circunstancias que por entonces los protagonistas no eran capaces de calibrar.
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Kopikiel
5.0 out of 5 stars must read
Reviewed in Germany on February 20, 2022
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Midway hat mich sehr interessiert. Vieles darüber gelesen , darunter auch Schattered Sword. Kevin Miller's Buch zeigt eine andere Seite der oft beschriebene Schlacht. Ich bin sehr angetan von dem Buch.
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Steve Derby
5.0 out of 5 stars Puts you in the cockpit, in the battle that changed the course of the war in the Pacific
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 21, 2020
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Superbly written historical novel. The description of the great carrier battle and of many of the characters involved in the action and the decision making on both sides, provides a gripping account and reminds us of the sacrifices made and also the part that chance played in this pivotal moment in U.S. history. I look forward to reading more by the author.
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Garfie1d
1.0 out of 5 stars Furchtbare Lektüre
Reviewed in Germany on April 26, 2021
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Zieht sich wie Kaugummi. Langweilig. Selbst für hart gesottene Fans eine Herausforderung. Die Story hat überhaupt keinen Spannungsbogen, keine interessanten Charaktere, einfach nichts. Habe nach ca. einem Drittel abgebrochen.
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JS6969
5.0 out of 5 stars Fact interwoven with gripping fiction
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 16, 2020
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Combining historical fact with compelling fiction this is a great read. The characters are real and their emotions really take you into this milestone battle. The book ends with "what happened to them afterwards" which returns you to the poignant fact that these were real people showing incredible fortitude during those few days in the Pacific.
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