Silent War Machine Since the beginning of man, people have fought for what they want. Tom Clancy demonstrates this through his main character, Marko Ramius, who was doing everything he could to save his team from the grip of communism. In Clancy's novel The Hunt for Red October, Clancy describes what someone will do to fight for their freedom. Tom Clancy was born on April 12, 1947 in Baltimore, Maryland. He and his parents, a postman and a credit clerk lived a normal life throughout Clancy's childhood. After graduating from high school in Baltimore, Clancy attended Loyola College in his hometown, where he majored in English. Tom graduated from college in 1969 and soon after married Wanda Thomas. Wanda was the director of an insurance agency and Tom joined the business. Although Clancy wanted to pursue a military career, he was denied due to very poor eyesight. He became an insurance broker in Baltimore City and then in Hartford, Connecticut. In 1973 Tom joined the OF Bowen agency, later becoming co-owner in 1980. Throughout his life Clancy maintained an interest in the military. "The Hunt for Red October" by Tom Clancy is a thriller that tells the life of a Soviet submarine captain who lost his wife to a drunken Russian surgeon. This tragic case of negligence was ignored because the surgeon was the son of a high-ranking Communist Party official. The loss of his wife has caused Captain Marko Radius to hate the corrupt Soviet Union for years. But now Ramius has the chance to act. Captain Ramius was given command of the newest Soviet submarine prototype, the Typhoon-class missile submarine. When Americans receive photographs of it, they are extremely curious to know why it is so special. Jac......middle of paper......unt for Red October, Clancy suddenly became a celebrity. He was invited to the White House for a private meeting with President Reagan and was greeted by military enthusiasts across the country. Now he had the opportunity to gain first-hand experience with military operations and hardware he only knew from books and technical manuals. Clancy noted that they joined training exercises and spent a week at sea on a malfunctioning frigate and another on a submarine. Despite detailed descriptions of life aboard a submarine in The Hunt for Red October, Clancy had never set foot on one until after the novel's publication. BIBLIOGRAPHY 1) Menand Louis “Very Popular Mechanisc The New Yorker Contemporary Literary Criticisms Ed. Roger Matuz vol. 112Detroit: Gale 1999, 58-652) Gaudian Unlimited 2007http://books.guardian.co.uk/authors/author/0,,-40,00.html