Books by Gary Gentile

This book is not a mystery novel. I did not write it in that form, with clues, false leads, red herrings, and a revelatory climax with a twist ending. In form, this book is more of a research procedural. It is not about an unidentified perpetrator who meets a just fate. There is little justice in the real world, in which the perpetrator goes free while his victims remain dead, buried, and for the most part neglected or forgotten. This is not to say that a great deal of detective work was not required in order to achieve an ultimate conclusion. In that sense, this book is about what the police call a "cold case:" one that was never solved and remains open on the books. This crime occurred in 1942. Its case was not solved until 2018: seventy-six years after its commission. To skip to the chase: Sean Manni discovered a shipwreck; Rusty Cassway identified it. "It" is the steamship Octavian, torpedoed by a German U-boat during World War Two. How these situations were set in motion, what predicaments resulted, and what circumstances eventuated, are subjects of the present volume. The tale is long and convoluted, filled with side trips that set the pace for a group of individuals known as "wreck-divers."This is their story. This book is not a mystery novel. I did not write it in that form, with clues, false leads, red herrings, and a revelatory climax with a twist ending. In form, this book is more of a research procedural. It is not about an unidentified perpetrator who meets a just fate. There is little justice in the real world, in which the perpetrator goes free while his victims remain dead, buried, and for the most part neglected or forgotten. This is not to say that a great deal of detective work was not required in order to achieve an ultimate conclusion. In that sense, this book is about what the police call a "cold case:" one that was never solved and remains open on the books. This crime occurred in 1942. Its case was not solved until 2018: seventy-six years after its commission. To skip to the chase: Sean Manni discovered a shipwreck; Rusty Cassway identified it. "It" is the steamship Octavian, torpedoed by a German U-boat during World War Two. How these situations were set in motion, what predicaments resulted, and what circumstances eventuated, are subjects of the present volume. The tale is long and convoluted, filled with side trips that set the pace for a group of individuals known as "wreck-divers."This is their story.

"The U.S. Navy is seeking legislation that will grant it control of more than 17,000 wrecks worldwide: from the halls of Montezuma to the shores of Tripoli. If this Act is passed, divers will no longer be able to dive on these wrecks, and anglers will no longer be allowed to fish on them. And not only shipwrecks, but ditched and crashed aircraft. Wreck-diving and wreck-fishing will then be activities of the past, when America was the land of the free and the home of the brave. The underwater America of the future will belong almost exclusively to a handful of civilian staff members who are paid for their unarmed robbery by the U.S. Navy. The purpose of this book is to alert American citizens about this wholesale annexation of public property, whose unlawful seizure is not in their best interests. The only people who will benefit by this misappropriation will be the self-appointed controllers, and those sycophants they select to help them in their ongoing program of creeping jurisdiction. By documenting the manner in which the Navy has mistreated shipwrecks and citizens in the past, the current generation will understand the kind of treatment that will be forthcoming if the Navy takes absolute control of these abandoned derelicts. By way of example, the author discovered a long lost minesweeper in 2007. He identified the wreck by means of historical research, location, and physical layout. He conducted a thorough examination of the remains, and took photographs of its most salient features. He published the results of his survey work in 2008. When the Navy learned about the discovery, it dispatched a team of Navy divers to demolish the wreck - a job that they did with spectacular relish and efficiency. They literally blew the wreck to smithereens with explosives. So much for historic preservation. So much for naval history and heritage. Now the Navy wants to "preserve" (read "control") thousands of additional shipwrecks. This book looks past the facade: the false image that the Navy has placed before the American people. It will show how the Navy has concealed and manipulated the dispersal of public information to the public. It will disclose the truth about the Navy's shipwreck shenanigans. And it will reveal the dark design that lurks inside the emperor's new clothes. Readers won't have to track down the proposed legislation or interpret its dire consequences. In order to keep readers fully informed, appendices include the text of all the Navy's wreck-controlling legislation, including the last-minute rider that was slipped into the 2005 military appropriations bill, as well as the full text of the newly proposed legislation. The legislative text is thoroughly parsed so that readers will understand how the Navy intends to prevent diving and ban fishing on all Navy-controlled wrecks, while letting those wrecks rot and rust and dissolve into nothingness, leaving future generations uninformed about their naval heritage."--

Did you know that Senator Robert Byrd passed laws all by himself, against the wishes of the American public? Did you know that people have been fined for making wild sea lions bark, because it violated the Marine Mammal Protection Act? Did you know that slavery still exists in America?Did you know that after the terrorist attack on the Pentagon, firefighters and rescue workers were not allowed to extinguish fires or provide emergency medical service because they did not have security clearance? Did you know that tourists are allowed to walk on top of the USS Arizona, but are prevented from swimming next to it?Did you know that in certain instances, a plaintiff is presumed guilty until he proves his innocence beyond all reasonable doubt?How absurd is it that people complain about paying $3 for a gallon of gasoline, but willingly pay more than $20 per gallon for drinking water? Tap water is free, but convenience store prices for bottled water are outrageous.Do you know how easy it is to cross the American border without going through customs? Did you know that the National Park Service operates sting operations against unwary visitors? Did you know that the government has mandated employment for individuals who are not capable of performing the job for which they were hired, and that they are paid the same wage as people who can do the job?It is bad enough that these blatant absurdities exist. What is worse is that they are commonly accepted. Worst yet, not only is nothing being done to correct them, they are proliferating and being perpetuated.The Absurdity Principle is replete with examples of everyday inanities, from serious breaches of Constitutional law to fraudulent activities that are sanctioned by the government. This is a book that will make your blood boil - unless you are an unethical accomplice who is profiteering from flaws in a system gone awry.It is time for people to condemn and castigate absurdities for what they are, to correct silly and farcical situations, to legislate changes in the laws of the land, and to make reason and rationality the way of life. This book will teach you how to get started on the path to deliverance from a world that has gone through the looking glass to tolerate madness and chaos.