What are the Forum members reading (1 Viewer)

[theBaron]

Still working on "Patriot Battles". The blatant political bias has calmed down a little, after getting through the first couple of chapters. But there is still a tinge of a class vs class worldview, that smacks of Marx, and some comments about 18th century warfare that don't sound correct, based on other things that I've read, or that sound like omissions, as though Stephenson is not aware of other peoples' work and their sources.

I think when I finish, I will transcribe my margin notes, with the specific citations, into a Word doc for anyone to read. It might be too much text for a post here.

I do have on order "Drillmaster of Valley Forge", on Baron von Steuben; I started reading it in the aisle at Borders, and decided to buy a copy. I also ordered "Shattered Sword" on the Japanese Navy at Midway; and "A Dawn Like Thunder", about Torpedo Eight's service in the first 2 years of the war (from before Midway, through Guadalcanal, when they were then disbanded).

Prost!
Brad

 

[lancer]

Baron- you will enjoy Shattered Sword. It is an extremely able study and has many new and interesting points. I also plan on getting the new Torpedo 8 study you have. -- lancer

 

[VanguardFC007]

I went through American Lion, the look at Andrew Jackson's political life through his personal life. It was a fairly interesting read on a very interesting man.

 

[cantinetozzo]

I'm a guy who reads even 2 or 3 books at one time..this month i've finished a book in italian on the battle of Adua 1896 (it was a great defeat for the newborn italian state and the fist great victory of a third world state(Ethiopia of Negus Menelik) over a european nation..it crashed our dreams of glory in the african continent), now i'm reading Rorke's Drift by Adrian Greaves and The Destruction of Lord Raglan by Hibbert.

 

[Spitfrnd]

Excellent book. One of my favorites on the tactics of the Napoleonic Wars. A lot of historians don't buy into the "impulse" system and french tactical superiority, but I do. I think this book more than any other explains total french dominance on the battlefield between 1805-1807 and the subsequent near parity in the later years (1812-1815).

I would also recommend "The Battle" for the best narrative about Waterloo. I read it a few years ago and really enjoyed it.

I personally am finishing up "House to House" (battle of Fallujah) that my brother gave me for Christmas and then I'm going to resume reading Agincourt by Bernard Cornwell. I have some other light reading as well, but you guys would crucify me if I told you what it was!

And you thought I only read Sharpe I am finding Nosworthy's book quite informative; it appears well supported.

It is no secret that I am a huge fan of Cornwell. The Grail Quest is not one of my favorities somehow; I have just had trouble relating to his Thomas of Hookton hero. I like the Sharpe series but my two favorite series are The Arthur Books (or Warlord Chronicles) and the Saxton stories. Now if you want to start a new line for me, figures for either would make be thrilled.

 

[cantinetozzo]

"The Battle" by Barbero it's a great read..certainly the Waterloo buffs know everything of what is in the book, the sources are mainly the Waterloo letters but in someplace there new annecdotes as the story of the german soldier (sorry i don't recall his name) attacking the Papelotte sector, (for those who can read french the full story is contained in one of Les carnets de la campagne series..Papelotte volume)..the force of the book is that you read it like fiction..

 

[Spitfrnd]

"The Battle" by Barbero it's a great read..certainly the Waterloo buffs know everything of what is in the book, the sources are mainly the Waterloo letters but in someplace there new annecdotes as the story of the german soldier (sorry i don't recall his name) attacking the Papelotte sector, (for those who can read french the full story is contained in one of Les carnets de la campagne series..Papelotte volume)..the force of the book is that you read it like fiction..

Thanks to you and Matt for that suggestion. I just found and ordered a great used copy at Amazon for $7.50.

 

[FirstLegion]

And you thought I only read Sharpe I am finding Nosworthy's book quite informative; it appears well supported.

It is no secret that I am a huge fan of Cornwell. The Grail Quest is not one of my favorities somehow; I have just had trouble relating to his Thomas of Hookton hero. I like the Sharpe series but my two favorite series are The Arthur Books (or Warlord Chronicles) and the Saxton stories. Now if you want to start a new line for me, figures for either would make be thrilled.

It was actually based on you talking about how much you've enjoyed Cornwell's books that made me finally decide to pick one up at the airport before my flight out of China. I'm enjoying it so far, though I'm not that far into it.

If you enjoy Cornwell, you should check out the Conn Ingulden (sp?) books about Caesar (Emperor Series). I've read a few of those and enjoyed them quite a bit.

You're going to LOVE the "Battle." I'm envious of you that you get to enjoy it for the first time. If you're ordering anyway, pick up 1812: Napoleon's Fatal March on Moscow by Zamoyski. Excellent read and very informative. I can't recommend it highly enough.

http://www.amazon.com/Moscow-1812-Napoleons-Fatal-March/dp/006108686X

 

[Spitfrnd]

It was actually based on you talking about how much you've enjoyed Cornwell's books that made me finally decide to pick one up at the airport before my flight out of China. I'm enjoying it so far, though I'm not that far into it.

If you enjoy Cornwell, you should check out the Conn Ingulden (sp?) books about Caesar (Emperor Series). I've read a few of those and enjoyed them quite a bit.

You're going to LOVE the "Battle." I'm envious of you that you get to enjoy it for the first time. If you're ordering anyway, pick up 1812: Napoleon's Fatal March on Moscow by Zamoyski. Excellent read and very informative. I can't recommend it highly enough.

http://www.amazon.com/Moscow-1812-Napoleons-Fatal-March/dp/006108686X

Thanks Matt, I will look into that one as well. Good call on Conn Iggulden; I have read the first three of the Emperor series so far. I have also read all but the last two of the Simon Scarrow Eagle series, also very fun reading with some good historical information. I do continue to recommend Cornwell's Arthur and Saxon series.

 

[ssorc1]

Civil War novels, The Long Roll, and Cease Firing by Mary Johnston. Can't say enough about this woman. She was the daughter of General Johnston and her narratives of the various battles and the personalities are written like she was there - or like she sat on her dad's knee while he told war stories. I'm sure she heard a great many. Follows the entire southern war effort and gives thorough and incredible detail on each and every battle from Mannassas to Appomatox. Definitely sides with the south so not a lot of detail on the northern personalities but she has the feminine quality of being sympathetic to both. Were published in and around 1910. Well worth looking for. As a side note they were illustrated by N.C.Wyeth as well. Colour plates and all. Cheers.

 

[theBaron]

I've finished "A Dawn Like Thunder", about Torpedo Eight, I added a post in this subforum about the book:

http://www.treefrogtreasures.com/forum/showthread.php?p=162365#post162365

I'm about halfway through "The Drillmast of Valley Forge", the new Steuben biography, and it, too, is an enjoyable read, and full of details that I had not read before. I just got through the Battle of Monmouth, and I have a new-found appreciation for the Baron, who has always been a favorite figure of mine from the Revolution.

Prost!
Brad

 

[VanguardFC007]

I just picked up General Lee's Army and cant put it down. I believe Brad (Jazzeum) recommended it. There is a lot of fascinating information in their about the average Southern soldier in Virginia. Im only on chapter 7 so far but its good stuff.

 

[jazzeum]

Another one by the same author that is supposed to be good (I haven't read it but will probably pick it up some time) is "Partners in Command." I took the following blurb from Amazon:

Glatthaar follows his seminal Forged in Battle with this provocative study of high-level command structures in the Civil War. By 1861, warfare was too complex to be directed by a single individual in the style of Napoleon; political and military leaders needed to learn how to collaborate. Glatthaar's six case studies show that the process depended heavily on professional attitudes, especially the leaders' ability to understand one another's strengths and weaknesses. It was often a difficult task when dealing with statesmen and generals: witness the lack of cooperation between Abraham Lincoln and George McClellan, and on the Confederate side between Jefferson Davis and Joseph E. Johnston. Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson for the Confederacy; Ulysses Grant, William Sherman and Admiral David Porter for the Union illustrate effective combinations, but they were all military men. Glatthaar calls the Lincoln-Grant team "the Ultimate Success" in a process still in the trial-and-error stage--and which, more than a century later, he notes, still involves large amounts of serendipity.

 

[Sans Culotte]

Not my principal area of study, but I've been re-reading parts of Clammer's THE ZULU WAR and Morris' THE WASHING OF THE SPEARS. Really have to make the time for Holzer's LINCOLN, PRESIDENT ELECT and Donald's LINCOLN.

 

[cantinetozzo]

After readin' Fusiliers by Mark Urban i really discovered a great interest in AWI ,so i bought many books , mainly osprey and about uniforms (and toy soldiers) , i'm waitin' for "The Drillmaster of Valley Forge (by suggestion of The Baron, few posts under this) , since first reading of the organization of the Continenal Army i was fascinated by this charachter..so i wanna know more..

 

[Combat]

I plan to start this one New Years Day - The Last Lincoln Conspirator - my wife gave it to me as one of my Christmas Gifts and the book is autographed by the author ! Really nice.

If you guys look on Wikipedia - search the Lincoln Conspirators - you will read some interesting stuff. On in particular is the short history on Lewis Powell - I didnt know he was from a Florida Confederate Unit and was wounded at Gettysburg and the stuff on John Surratt is what had made me mention this book to the wife on my X-mas list.

I always thought this photo of Lewis Payne was one of the more striking from the war given it's context. Also his modern appearance. "Lewis Payne, seated and manacled, at the Washington Navy Yard about the time of his 21st birthday in April 1865, three months before he was hanged as one of the Lincoln assassination conspirators."

 

[steelisreal]

Currently reading "The First World War (A Complete History)" - Sir Martin Gilbert. So far it seems to be very much from the British viewpoint, which I don't mind so much being the anglophile that I am.

 

[theBaron]

I finished "The Drillmaster of Valley Forge" over the weekend, and started on "Shattered Sword", on the Battle of Midway from the perspective of the Japanese. It is proving to be an excellent book, as thorough in its description and analysis of the Japanese side of the battle, as Gordon Prange's book is on the American side. For one thing, study of the Japanese documents clarifies several longstanding points of confusion about the battle seen from our viewpoint, and also proves as misconceptions some long-held beliefs (eg, Nagumo didn't sink into a funk, when 3 of his carriers were knocked out of action, but rather, actually tried to organize his remaining vessels for a surface action as soon as he transferred his flag to the Nagara from the Akagi).

I'll post some book reports under separate threads in this forum.

Prost!
Brad

 

[lancer]

Brad - I found "Shattered Sword" to be one of the best and most interesting books I had read in years. When at Univ. of Md. in early '70s, Gordan Prange was my history proffessor for WW1 & WW2. He thought the world of Mitsuo Fuchida and had interviewed him many times in relation to Pearl Harbor and Midway amongst other things. "Shattered Sword" would seem to negate Fuchida's usefulness as a witness. I wonder at his motives in his accounts to Prange. Opens up a lot of questions. Wish Prange was still around to read this book. Would have been interesting. -- lancer

 

[UKReb]

I plan to start this one New Years Day - The Last Lincoln Conspirator - my wife gave it to me as one of my Christmas Gifts and the book is autographed by the author ! Really nice.

Ron

I've read your book and an excellent companion for it is the attached-Sets the scene of the assassination and the manhunt so that it reads almost like a novel-but really well researched.
I read it over two nights-a veritable unputdownable. Recommended.

Reb