Our regular visitors know that here at the American Admiralty Book shop we tend towards political incorrectness. Its not that we seek to offend or dislike any one, or any group, its just that we are old and cranky and its simply too much trouble to keep up with what's politically correct at any given moment. We also know that our modern federal government and even armed services require political correctness. That's why we don't use our real names when writing and publishing posts for this blog. John Jacobsen, USMAA class of 1985 has affixed his real name to A COMMODORE OF ERRORS a comedic novel about a fictitious set of Commandants and Commandants wanna be characters and even one of them's mother.
In this novel about the political wrangling of fictitious second in command of the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy Commodore Robert S. Dickey who wants the top dog Commandant's job political incorrectness reaches a new comic high. The pompous Dickey desperately wants the job of Academy Commandant, the skirt chasing Admiral Johnson. Dickey hatches a plot to to expose Johnson's next peccadillo. To assist him in undoing Johnson Dickey conspires with Mogie Mogelefsky, the imperious, bullying, mayor of Great Neck. When the dynamic duo finally succeed in exposing Johnson in a compromising position, Mogie suddenly reneges on his deal, Mogie is tired of dealing with the WASPS at the Academy and declares he wants a Jew instead. Dickey isn't too worried at first since a requirement for the Commandant's job is that the candidate has to have commanded a U.S. flag ship. The population of American Jewish ship masters is extremely low.
Then Mogie's constituent Mrs Tannenbaume enters the picture. Her son is a ship captain and she'd really like to have him near home. Unfortunately Mrs Tannenbaume has spent her entire life proclaiming that her last name having an e on the end, is not Jewish. She didn't raise her kid as a Jew but she is determined to pass him for Jewish to get him the job. Dickey plans to expose him as a Gentile and Mrs. T knows it. Off she flies to join her son's ship in Singapore to instruct him and his new bride a 19 year old Thai bar girl , to be the perfect Jewish couple. The crew of her son's ship the M.V. GOD has never seen anyone like Mrs. T before and marvels as she "takes the conn" from her son and everyone else who gets in her way. We won't tell you how it ends.
The book is a laugh riot for the politically incorrect, the insensitive, or the more thick skinned non WASPS among us, and thick skinned WASPS for that matter since that cultural group are the butt of a lot of humor in the book. Indeed the if there is an element of political correctness in the book it is that everyone but the handicapped are depicted in an unflattering light. Why the author decided to leave the physically handicapped unscathed we are not sure. Maybe next book Jacobsen will attack all of the one legged people. Warning, if you are offended by stereotypes, or if you are yourself actually politically correct this book is not for you. But for us regular "Joe Smuckatellies" who could care less its a laugh riot. This is Saturday Night Live humor for Academy insiders. Highly RECOMMENDED for the insensitive reader.
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