What are the Forum members reading (2 Viewers)

Leadmen said:
I am re-reading the battle of Guadacanal by Eric Hammel. This is a trilogy about the land,sea and carrier battles around Guadacanal. One of my favorite reads along with Franks book on Guadacanal. J
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All good reads and not overkill. The battle is so important and multi-faceted that it takes several books and historians to cover it. -- Al
 
I live in the wilds of the South, so I only recently happened upon BBC's History Magazine. What an incredible read for those who love European history!
MikeNick
 
Just had a relative return from a trip to USA. Gave strict instructions did not want a I Love NY t-shirt so got me two books.

First is The Killer Angels by Mike Shaara which I see Brendan got recently. Looks good (it won a Pulitzer after all) and will probably read it next.

Other is Stealing Lincoln's Body by Thomas Craughwell. Not sure if I will actually read this one but interesting photo showing Teddy Roosevelt watching funeral parade of Lincoln when he was a kid.
 
If you saw the Gettysburg movie, the book is exactly like it. It would be like reading a rerun of the movie. BTW, I love the movie. One of my favorites.
 
,,,,,,,,,,,,,..........,,,,,,,,,,,,,,...........,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,The End of Power

"We know that power is shifting: From West to East and North to South, from presidential palaces to public squares, from once formidable corporate behemoths to nimble startups and, slowly but surely, from men to women. But power is not merely shifting and dispersing. It is also decaying. Those in power today are more constrained in what they can do with it and more at risk of losing it than ever before. In The End of Power, award-winning columnist and former Foreign Policy editor Moisés Naím illuminates the struggle between once-dominant megaplayers and the new micropowers challenging them in every field of human endeavor. Drawing on provocative, original research, Naím shows how the antiestablishment drive of micropowers can topple tyrants, dislodge monopolies, and open remarkable new opportunities, but it can also lead to chaos and paralysis. Naím deftly covers the seismic changes underway in business, religion, education, within families, and in all matters of war and peace. Examples abound in all walks of life: In 1977, eighty-nine countries were ruled by autocrats while today more than half the world’s population lives in democracies. CEO’s are more constrained and have shorter tenures than their predecessors. Modern tools of war, cheaper and more accessible, make it possible for groups like Hezbollah to afford their own drones. In the second half of 2010, the top ten hedge funds earned more than the world’s largest six banks combined. Those in power retain it by erecting powerful barriers to keep challengers at bay. Today, insurgent forces dismantle those barriers more quickly and easily than ever, only to find that they themselves become vulnerable in the process. Accessible and captivating, Naím offers a revolutionary look at the inevitable end of power—and how it will change your world."
 
Go for Broke said:
If you saw the Gettysburg movie, the book is exactly like it. It would be like reading a rerun of the movie. BTW, I love the movie. One of my favorites.
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The next book in his series "The Last Full Measure" was a good read. Gettysburg is one of my favorite movies. Sometimes I go to Gettysburg and watch the movie on the battlefield with my phone or iPad. Or listen to the sound track while driving through the park. You can never get enough Gettysburg.
 
The Gettysburg movie and the Killer Angels book were, in my opinion, the best of the series. The battle scenes were fantastic. Muskets shooting en masse. Lines of cannons firing in sequence. However, the best was the coolness and determination of the commanders.
 
Toy Soldier Brigade said:
The next book in his series "The Last Full Measure" was a good read. Gettysburg is one of my favorite movies. Sometimes I go to Gettysburg and watch the movie on the battlefield with my phone or iPad. Or listen to the sound track while driving through the park. You can never get enough Gettysburg.
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It's too bad that Gods and Generals was a cinematic bust. For me, some of the most interesting battles and events were in the latter years of the war. Hopefully, someone will decide to make The Last Full Measure into a movie.
Cheers,
Brendan
 
Almost finished with "Fighting fox company of the 506th" as most all of us know about Easy co. of the 506th Airborne from the Band of Brothers series this book is about Fox co. which faught along side Easy co. in every major battle, the author really takes the time to pit you in a location, time frame, of what and where certain battles took place and goes into great detail, maybe not as good as Ambrose but pretty close, highly recommand this book for anyone...Sammy
 
I am almost finished reading a new autobiography about Stonewall Jackson. This is probably the best one I read.

REBEL YELL by S.C. Gwynne 2014 The Violence,Passion, and Redemption of Stonewall Jackson. 577 pages plus references.
 
I am almost reading Black Count by Tom Reiss. It is an easy read of the life of Alexandre Dumas father, a hero of the French Revolution.
MikeNick
 
bradleyl30 said:
I am reading: Peake's "Marching with Caesar: Birth of the 10th Legion"

http://www.amazon.com/Marching-With-Caesar-Legion-Volume/dp/1941226000/ref=pd_ybh_1

Really enjoying it so far. Not quite as exciting and testosterone fueled as Simon Scarrow's series, but still really great and a little more authentic. Like both series, just a little different.
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I am now on the third book in this series and it is now rivaling Scarrow's as my favorite. A little more realistic and gritty.
 
sammy719 said:
Almost finished with "Fighting fox company of the 506th" as most all of us know about Easy co. of the 506th Airborne from the Band of Brothers series this book is about Fox co. which faught along side Easy co. in every major battle, the author really takes the time to pit you in a location, time frame, of what and where certain battles took place and goes into great detail, maybe not as good as Ambrose but pretty close, highly recommand this book for anyone...Sammy
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Sammy, read this one as well. Interesting unit history, not near as good as BoB IMO but well worth the time for anyone interested in unit histories. I remembered the account of Fox Cos retreat from the armor attack. That was portrayed in the mini-series.

Have you read Webster's Parachute Infantry? Published posthumously by his wife after he died in a fishing accident. Chris
 
I'm reading "The ODESSA File" again. I just got the movie on DVD, and it's entertaining, but the novel is better, for those parts of the story that didn't make it into the movie.

Prost!
Brad
 
just got two books, 1 new to me the other an old friend re-acquired. The new one is titled "The First Battle of the First World War: Alsace-Lorraine" and is by Karl Deuringer, edited by Terence Zuber. This is basically the German official record, newly translated and edited. It is one of the only works in English on this particular subject, so is useful even though it is strictly German POV. It is very technical and seems to concentrate at regimental/battalion level and up. The old friend re-acquired is Alex Imrie's outstanding book "The Fokker Triplane". I had it for years, foolishly sold it and it took me forever to find an affordable copy to re-buy. Combined with Paul Leaman's "Fokker Dr.1 Triplane", you will know everything about the triplane you always wanted to know and then some. Well written, researched, and illustrated, Imrie's book is a must have for the triplane enthusiast. -- Al
 
Gents,

Just started No Easy Day by Mark Owen.

John from Texas

PS: Finished Beware of Pity by Stefan Zweig
 
I'm wrapping up "Pearl Harbor", by H. P Willmott. Nothing really new, in terms of information about the attack, from its inception to an analysis afterwards, but Willmott begins by examining the historical background, the events that bring Japan to the point in 1941 of deciding to go to war with the US. And by that, I mean that he goes back to Japan's emergence from the feudalism of the Shogunate, to world actor. In this way, Willmott presages the tack that Parshall and Tully took in the later "Shattered Sword". Willmott does seem to make the mistake that other Western authors have made, though, in that he repeats some arguments made by Mitsuo Fuchida after the war, that the Japanese long ago debunked and are really statements made to make Fuchida look good.

Queued up after that is "A Better War" by Lewis Sorley, about the later years of the Vietnam War, and then, "Day of Deceit: The Truth About FDR and Pearl Harbor", by Robert B. Stinnett. I'm curious to read what the conspiracy theorists have to say, though I'm of a skeptical mind as I approach any of their books.

Prost!
Brad
 
theBaron said:
I'm wrapping up "Pearl Harbor", by H. P Willmott. Nothing really new, in terms of information about the attack, from its inception to an analysis afterwards, but Willmott begins by examining the historical background, the events that bring Japan to the point in 1941 of deciding to go to war with the US. And by that, I mean that he goes back to Japan's emergence from the feudalism of the Shogunate, to world actor. In this way, Willmott presages the tack that Parshall and Tully took in the later "Shattered Sword". Willmott does seem to make the mistake that other Western authors have made, though, in that he repeats some arguments made by Mitsuo Fuchida after the war, that the Japanese long ago debunked and are really statements made to make Fuchida look good.

Queued up after that is "A Better War" by Lewis Sorley, about the later years of the Vietnam War, and then, "Day of Deceit: The Truth About FDR and Pearl Harbor", by Robert B. Stinnett. I'm curious to read what the conspiracy theorists have to say, though I'm of a skeptical mind as I approach any of their books.

Prost!
Brad
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Recommend Gordon Prange's At Dawn We Slept, been at for a while but quite good. This was the expanded book of his earlier Tora, Tora, Tora, that was made into the movie. Prange was a highly regarded historian. I did not have the honor of attending his history classes while a student at University of Maryland, but I believe Lancer/Al may have. Chris
 
Terp152 said:
Recommend Gordon Prange's At Dawn We Slept, been at for a while but quite good. This was the expanded book of his earlier Tora, Tora, Tora, that was made into the movie. Prange was a highly regarded historian. I did not have the honor of attending his history classes while a student at University of Maryland, but I believe Lancer/Al may have. Chris
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That is correct, Chris. Had the privilege of being in his classes on WW1 and WW2 for 4 semesters back in the early 70's. Pearl Harbor was an almost 4 decade long study of his, but a study he was unable to bring to print before his death in 1980. His manuscripts on Pearl Harbor (and other subjects, Midway and Sorge) were published after death. There are 3 titles involving Pearl Harbor: "At Dawn We Slept: The Untold Story of Pearl Harbor"; "December 7, 1941: The Day the Japanese Attacked Pearl Harbor"; "Pearl Harbor: The Verdict of History". Prange had formatted his study to be in four volumes, but the edited version is the 3 mentioned books. I believe the 4th volume was to have been about the whole question about whether FDR might have had knowledge of the impending attack, but this volume was severely edited down and now is included in the Verdict of History volume. At any rate, the 3 books by Prange cover the subject quite well and are unlikely to be surpassed due to the unique sources Prange had access to and the years of investigative study Prange put into them. -- Al
 
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