Review of "The United States Coast Guard and National Defense: A History from World War I to the Present" by Thomas P. Ostrum

Ostrom, a former member of the US Coast Guard Reserve and a retired history instructor at Rochester Community College in Minnesota, delivers a brief history of the Coast Guard from WW I through 2010. The book is structured according to both mission and chronology, covering the Coast Guard's role in WW II, Korea, Vietnam, and the war on terror. Other chapters discuss Coast Guard aviation, training, port security, and the fight against piracy, as well as the Coast Guard's role in homeland security. Ostrom includes appendixes covering "Team Coast Guard," 1900-2010, and a section briefly detailing careers of several Coast Guard personnel to highlight their geographic, racial, and economic diversity as well as their success. Structured and written like an official service history, Ostrom's volume offers a solid overview of this often-overlooked service.