Tom Clancy 1947-
(Tom Clancy)(Critical Essay) COWLEY, JASON.
COPYRIGHT 2001 New Statesman, Ltd.
Tom Clancy is credited with inventing the techno-military thriller, a genre involving multiple plotlines, extensive description of military personnel and gear, and a large cast of characters ranging from Soviet military officers and CIA directors to the president of the United States. In a 1988 Playboy interview, Marc Cooper claimed that Clancy had become "a popular authority on what the U.S. and the Soviets really have in their military arsenals and on how war may be fought today." Indeed, his novels have been brought into use as case studies in military colleges.
"A lot of what I know about warfare I learnt from reading Tom," said Colin Powell, the US secretary of state and former chairman of the joint chiefs of staff.
His Life:
Born on April 12, 1947 in Baltimore, Thomas L. Clancy, Jr. grew up with a fondness for military history in general and naval history in particular. In June 1969, he graduated from Baltimore's Loyola College, majoring in English, and married Wanda Thomas in August.
A severe eye weakness kept him from serving in the Vietnam War, and he worked in insurance for 15 years until the colossal success of his first novel, The Hunt for Red October(1984). The book was a bestseller in both hard cover and paperback, and was successfully filmed--although not until 1990--with an all-star cast headed by Sean Connery.
In April 1989, Clancy was invited to serve as an unpaid consultant to the National Space Council, and has lectured for the CIA, DIA, and NSA. A 1989 Time magazine review added a moral dimension to his growing public authority: "Clancy has performed a national service of some sorts: he has sought to explain the military and its moral code to civilians.. Read from this standpoint, Clancy's thrillers can be seen not as an escape from reality, but as presenting real, and relevant, issues and experiences.
Clancy claims, in The Clancy Companion, that he writes fiction "pure and simple ... projecting ideas generally into the future, rather than the past"
Tom Clancy is also said to be the highest-paid author in the world (his recent two-book deal is worth a reported $45m) and has more than 30 million books in print.
"If you don't like driving a tank, there's something wrong with you," Clancy once said. His work is saturated with research and hard detail; his descriptions of nuclear submarines and fighter jets have a startling authenticity
His Books:
1984 - The Hunt for Red October
Somewhere under the Atlantic, a Soviet sub commander has just made a fateful decision: the Red October is heading west. The Americans want her. The Russians want her back. And the most incredible chase in history is on..
. The Hunt for Red October is the runaway bestseller that launched Tom Clancy's phenomenal career. A military thriller so accurate and convincing that the author was rumored to have been debriefed by the White House. Its theme: the greatest espionage coup in history. Its story: the chase for a runaway top secret Russian missile sub.
1986 Red Storm Rising
The story details a conventional World War III between the U. S. and the Soviet Union. The book details authentic strategies imposed by both sides in the war. Clancy's thorough familiarity with the weapons forms a solid foundation to show which weapons system would win out when set against the other. The many battle scenes are not as graphic as other war novels. However, they are sufficiently gory to remind us what serious business war is - in any age.
Everything from descriptions of the battle landscapes to the disturbing thoughts by the Soviets to go ahead & use their nuclear missiles is all finely and meticulously crafted. It's Clancy at his very best.
1987 Patriot Games
On vacation in London, Jack Ryan stops a terrorist attack by the Ulster Liberation Army on the Prince and Princess of Wales and their infant son. When the leader of the attack escapes from custody, Ryan and his family become targets. To defend them, Ryan goes to see his old friends at the C.I.A. and tells them he wants back in. The climax of the book is another attack on the terrorists at Ryan's own home where the Prince and Princess are dinner guests.
Filming of this book turned Tom Clancy against selling the movie rights of his books to Hollywood . In the film, Harrison Ford's character kills Sean Miller at the end of an exciting fistfight on a speeding boat. In the book, Jack Ryan does not shoot his gun at the fatal moment so that he can tell his newborn son, "Your father isn't a murderer."
1988- Cardinal of the Kremlin
Two men possess vital data on Russia's Star Wars missile defense system. One of them is CARDINAL--America's highest agent in the Kremlin--and he's about to be terminated by the KGB. The other is the one American who can save CARDINAL and lead the world to the brink of peace--or war. Jack Ryan returns, making decisions based on his conscience and his strict virtues, and at the same time, Clancy introduces Ryan's counterpart-the enigmatic Mr. Clark. While Ryan's choices revolve around ethics, Clark's life is governed by cold reason. Their relationship develops into an intriguing contrast in Clancy's later novels, and Mr. Clark gets his start in Cardinal.
1989 - Clear and Present Danger
The president wants success in his "war on drugs,". But after John Clark's covert strike team is deployed to Colombia for Operation Showboat, the drug lords strike back taking several civilian casualties. The president orders Ritter to terminate their unofficial plan and leave no traces. Jack Ryan, who is now CIA deputy director of intelligence is enraged when he discovers that he has been left out of the loop of Colombian operations. Several of America's most highly trained soldiers are stranded in an unfinished mission that, according to all records, never existed. Ryan decides to get the men out. Ultimately, Clear and Present Danger is about good conscience, law, and politics, with Jack Ryan and CIA agent John Clark as its heroes.
1991 - The Sum of All FearsTerrorists undertake to detonate a nuclear bomb within the United States to prevent a peaceful settlement to the conflicts in the Middle East. The main character, Jack Ryan, must deal with not only tense intelligence problems, but also with problems such as lack of sleep, failing health and marital problems. On top of that, Ryan must overcome a vindictive pesonal attack by National Security Advisor Elizabeth Elliot and the sometimes unfair expectations of President Fowler. Popular Clancy characters such as John Clark and Domingo Chavez also play a role in this story. Other than the planned nuclear detonation in America and the ensuing panic that takes place, the movie is very different.
1994 Without Remorse This story tells the background and origin of John Kelly, known to fans of the Jack Ryan stories as Mr. Clark. John Kelly meets a girl who is into prostitution and drugs, and helps rehabilitate her. The dealers who she worked for kill the girl, and the rest of the novel is about Kelly's revenge against the dealers. There is a sub-plot involving a mission to Vietnam that Kelly is sent on, but it's a minor storyline compared with the larger revenge story. Without Remorse sets the stage for future novels where Kelly is Mr. Clarke, and is about what makes this character tick.
1996Debt of Honor Razio Yamata,one of Japan's most influential industrialists, has devised a plan to cripple the American greatness, humble the U.S. military, and elevate Japan to a position of dominance. Yamata's motivation lies in his desire to pay off a Debt of Honor to his parents and to the country he feels is responsible for their deaths: America. When the faulty gas tank on one Tennessee family's car leads to their fiery death, an opportunistic U.S. congressman rushed a new trade law through that is designed to squeeze Japan economically. Instead, it provides Yamata with the leverage he needs to put his plan into action. As Yamata's plan begins to unfold, it becomes clear to the world that someone is launching a fully integrated operation against the United States. There's only one man to find out who the culprit is: Jack Ryan, the new president's National Security Advisor.
1997 Executive Orders Tom Clancy goes to the White House in this thriller of political terror and global disaster. The American political situation takes a disturbing turn as the President, Congress, and Supreme Court are obliterated when a Japanese terrorist lands a 747 on the Capitol. Meanwhile the Iranians are unleashing an Ebola virus threat on the country. Jack Ryan, CIA agent, is cast in the middle of this maelstrom. Because of a recent sex scandal, Ryan was appointed vice president, a slot he doesn't hold for long when he lands in the Chief Executive's chair. He goes after the Iranians and then tries to piece together the country and his life the only way he knows how--with a fury.
1999 Ranbow Six Clark (a.k.a. Rainbow Six) has left the CIA to create an England-based organization code-named "Rainbow." Its mission: deploy an elite squad of American operatives combined with handpicked British, French, and German agents to stop terrorism in its tracks. Rainbow's emergence could not be more timely: in quick succession, the force diffuses three attempted terrorist actions. But Clark becomes suspicious when Russian agents suddenly show interest in Rainbow's work. The Rainbow operatives, from Navy SEALs to German mountain-leader school graduates, are rendered to inspire respect. The book also has the latest gadgets for scrambling, transmitting, and decoding secrets.
2000 The Bear and the Dragon Power is delightful, and absolute power should be absolutely delightful--but not when you're the most powerful man on earth and the place is ticking like a time bomb. Jack Ryan, CIA warrior turned U.S. president, is the man in the hot seat, and in this vast thriller he's up against crazed Asian warlords, Russian thugs, nukes that won't stay put, and authentic, up-to-the-nanosecond technology as complex as the characters' motives are simple. Quick, do you know how to reprogram the software in an Aegis missile seekerhead? Well, if you're Jack Ryan, you'd better find someone who does, or an incoming ballistic may rain fallout on your parade. Bad for reelection prospects. "You know, I don't really like this job very much," Ryan complains to his aide Arnie van Damm, who replies, "Ain't supposed to be fun, Jack."
2002 Red Rabbit Long before he was President or head of the CIA, before he fought terrorist attacks on the Super Bowl or the White House, even before a submarine named Red October made its perilous way across the Atlantic, Jack Ryan was a historian, teacher, and recent ex-Marine temporarily living in England while researching a book. A series of deadly encounters with an IRA splinter group had brought him to the attention of the CIA's Deputy Director, and when Greer asked him if he wanted to come aboard as a freelance analyst, Jack was quick to accept. The opportunity was irresistible, and he was sure he could fit it in with the rest of his work. And then Jack forgot all about the rest of his work, because one of his first assignments was to help debrief a high-level Soviet defector, and the defector told an amazing tale: Top Soviet officials, including Yuri Andropov, were planning to assassinate the Pope, John Paul II.
2003 Clancy has scrapped his usual one-novel-every-two-years cycle to deliver a shorter, swifter tale featuring not Ryan but Ryan's son, also known as Jack, as well as two of young Jack's cousins, fraternal twins Dominic and Brian Caruso, the former an FBI agent, the latter a Marine. All three are recruited to a privately funded vigilante organization, Hendley Associates, that aims to strike at America's enemies-particularly, terrorists-when the Feds can't or won't.
Computer Games: These are some of the top rated antiterrorism games using the Tom Clancy name.
Tom Clancy Websites: