What are the Forum members reading (4 Viewers)

[BHogan]

...I have now completed the two volume "The War of the Revolution" by Christopher Ward....which has been a privilege to read....fantastically well written......no wonder it is recognised as a 'must-read' for students of the AWI....

...the style and manner in which the story of the events are described makes it easy to absorb without being overwhelming....an absolute joy....

...the next book to be read views the AWI from a British perspective:- "Those D.amned Rebels" (Britain's American Empire in Revolt) by Michael Pearson (Hb, printed 1972)...

...what I could do with is an easy to handle (but detailed) atlas of the AWI to help assist with the text from the books.....the maps provided in the books that I have so far read have proven to be too few in number and detail....

...I already own a copy of the "Atlas of the American Revolution" by Higginbotham & Nebenzahl.....with its use of contemporary maps, wonderfully displayed in full colour and in a large 'coffee-table' format.....which makes the book a bit unwieldy for juggling whilst reading another book....

...it would be nice to have a modern atlas that on one page shows the location of a battle (or event) in relation to the thirteen colonies, and then the opposite page shows closer details of the battle, again done in a modern colourful format.....and keep the book no bigger than the average sized child's annual.....does such a book exist ?

....anyway, back to "Those D.amned Rebels" !
.

I started reading Ward's book after your and others' recommendations. I'm only a few chapters in, but I am thoroughly enjoying it so far. It is almost like a The Guns of August for the American War of Independence.

Cheers,

Brendan

 

[Cairnbeg]

I started reading Ward's book after your and others' recommendations. I'm only a few chapters in, but I am thoroughly enjoying it so far. It is almost like a The Guns of August for the American War of Independence.

Cheers,

Brendan

...glad to know that the book is being appreciated by someone else

...and based on your location, you're certainly closer to where some of the events may have occurred...I'm relatively new to reading on the subject of the AWI....having started a few months ago with "A Few Bloody Noses" by Robert Harvey....

...all in all, it's made for some fascinating reading that I can't get enough of...


.

 

[marco55]

I'm reading "Before Lewis and Clark"Story of the founding of St.Louis by the French and their interactions with the indians of that area and the fur trade which sent the French into the area in the first place.
Mark

 

[Cairnbeg]

...finished reading "Those D.amned Rebels (Britain's American Empire in Revolt)" by Michael Pearson...a general history of the events of the AWI from a British perspective...

...not a dry factual book...it has more of a 'novel' approach which makes it an easy read.....but this doesn't detract from making it any less of a worthwhile book to have in one's library...enjoyable and recommended...

...to continue with the British perspective, I now have my hands on "The War Of Independence (The British Army in North America 1775-1783)" by Sir John Fortescue.....this is the 2001 hardback reprint of the 1911 original....

...learning something new from each book !

 

[lancer]

Just got 2 new WW1 aviation titles from Aeronaut Books. The first book is the 7th volume in Lance Bronnenkant's outstanding series 'The Blue Max Airmen: German Airmen Awarded the Pour Le Merite; Bernert, Schaefer, Wolff '. This is a great series that is well illustrated with photos and some color profiles of the aircraft flown by the aces being covered. Highly recommended. The second book is by French Air Force expert Jon Guttman and is called 'Grim Reapers: French Escadrille 94 in World War I'. It is valuable simply for what it is, a French squadron history, which are rare as hen's teeth in the English language. In fact, not counting the various Lafayette Escadrille histories and the couple of histories dealing with the Storks, I know of no other specific unit history involving French fighter squadrons. This book follows the framework of the Blue Max series in that it is well illustrated in photos and color profiles of various squadron aircraft and is a good written history of the activities of the squadron and personal. There is quite a bit of info regarding the unit and personal markings, as well. Also highly recommended.
Both books are oversize softcovers, the Blue Max book is 118 pages and the Grim Reapers is 94 pages and both retail at $29.95. -- Al

 

[Terp152]

Had the perfect spring evening. Sitting on the back porch the other day, 80 deg temp, listening to the fish pond waterfall in the background, sun lowering in the sky. My two German Shorthair Pointers roaming about. Bourbon on the table, I am in Kentucky after all, and reading John Bigelow's classic 1910 volume The Chancellorsville Campaign. A Norman Rockwell moment. :smile2: Chris

 

[Cairnbeg]

...not sure if I can claim to have had a perfect spring evening......technically it's 'spring'....a mixture of rain, snow, wind, sunshine, rain, snow, etc in the one day.. ....temps are all the way up to the giddy heights of 1°C or 2°C......there isn't a dog present.....instead we have a cat lurking outside, making the garden a dangerous LZ for any bird daft enough to try and land....he was sizing up a pheasant that had hopped the fence from the field out the back the other day....it was twice as big as he is !


....the current weather conditions relate to the conditions in one of the book's that I'm now reading:- "History of the Rebellion of 1745" by Robert Chambers....this is the 7th edition (printed 1869) of a book originally published in 1827.....the book itself is a historical piece...
It's a pleasure to be handling such an old book.....to find out how the events of the '45 were viewed no more than approx. 80yrs later....

...the second book that I have on the go continues with my other interest, the theme of the AWI...(having finished Sir John Fortescue's "The War of Independence")...just starting "Redcoats and Rebels - The War for America, 1770-1781" by Christopher Hibbert, which tells the story from the British and loyalist side of things...

...lots to read!

 

[lancer]

...not sure if I can claim to have had a perfect spring evening......technically it's 'spring'....a mixture of rain, snow, wind, sunshine, rain, snow, etc in the one day.. ....temps are all the way up to the giddy heights of 1°C or 2°C......there isn't a dog present.....instead we have a cat lurking outside, making the garden a dangerous LZ for any bird daft enough to try and land....he was sizing up a pheasant that had hopped the fence from the field out the back the other day....it was twice as big as he is !


....the current weather conditions relate to the conditions in one of the book's that I'm now reading:- "History of the Rebellion of 1745" by Robert Chambers....this is the 7th edition (printed 1869) of a book originally published in 1827.....the book itself is a historical piece...
It's a pleasure to be handling such an old book.....to find out how the events of the '45 were viewed no more than approx. 80yrs later....

...the second book that I have on the go continues with my other interest, the theme of the AWI...(having finished Sir John Fortescue's "The War of Independence")...just starting "Redcoats and Rebels - The War for America, 1770-1781" by Christopher Hibbert, which tells the story from the British and loyalist side of things...

...lots to read!

Got another for you. It's right up your subject alley. The book is titled "The Queen's American Rangers" by Donald Gara. It is about the unit raised by Robert Rogers during the AWI. -- Al

 

[Cairnbeg]

Got another for you. It's right up your subject alley. The book is titled "The Queen's American Rangers" by Donald Gara. It is about the unit raised by Robert Rogers during the AWI. -- Al

....many thanks for the recommendation....I will add it to my list...in my stack of books I have another 2 or 3 'general histories' of the AWI to read through....the plan is then to move onto individual battle or campaign books....starting with 'the shot heard around the world'.... -- Ian

 

[Combat]

Reading in the Wash Post yesterday about a guy in Germany who spent 25 years writing a book on Hitler's day-to-day itinerary. It is four volumes and 2500 pages long! I think it is only published in German at the moment. In trying to find out some more about it, I somehow came across David Irving's facebook page. What a bizarre guy he is with all his conspiracy theories. It is unfortunate because I do remember he was a decent historian but seems to be totally off his nut.

 

[lancer]

Reading in the Wash Post yesterday about a guy in Germany who spent 25 years writing a book on Hitler's day-to-day itinerary. It is four volumes and 2500 pages long! I think it is only published in German at the moment. In trying to find out some more about it, I somehow came across David Irving's facebook page. What a bizarre guy he is with all his conspiracy theories. It is unfortunate because I do remember he was a decent historian but seems to be totally off his nut.

Irving is a very 'interesting' man. I met him at a military show in Baltimore 20+ years ago. It was then that I realized his opinions differed from most others.:rolleyes2: He has written some good history books but nothing recent comes under that heading. His elevator doesn't go to the top floor. -- Al

 

[Captain Smart]

Killers of the King: The Men Who Dared to Execute Charles I (Released 2014)
by Charles Spencer

Charles I was the first of the English monarchs to be put on trial for treason and it led to his execution. This event is one of the most famous in Stuart England’s history – and one of the most controversial. No law could be found in all England’s history that dealt with the trial of a monarch so the order setting up the court that was to try Charles was written by a Dutch lawyer called Issac Dorislaus and he based his work on an ancient Roman law which stated that a military body (in this case the government) could legally overthrow a tyrant. The execution of Charles, led to an eleven year gap in the rule of the Stuarts (1649 to 1660) and it witnessed the rise to supreme power of Oliver Cromwell – whose signature can be clearly seen on the death warrant of Charles.

Charles was put on trial in London on January 1st 1649. He was accused of being a “tyrant, traitor and murderer; and a public and implacable enemy to the Commonwealth of England.“

Killers of the King is the latest book from Earl Spencer and tells the story of the events leading to the execution of Charles I and the fate of the Regicides, the men who signed the death warrant and those involved in the death of a king.

Following the end of the first Civil War, Charles is in custody and the question for Parliament is what to do with a defeated King? The road leads to Westminster where the king is soon put on trial for his life which results in his execution on Tuesday, 30 January 1649 on a scaffold in front of the Banqueting House in the Palace of Westminster.

Eleven years later after the failure of the Commonwealth, overtures were made to the future Charles II and following the restoration of the monarchy in 1660 Charles is determined that his father’s killers should be punished.

The remainder of the book tells the story of the eighty or so individuals who are named as Regicides, their fates whether it is to face the gruesome traitors death at Charing Cross or spend the rest of their lives in a miserable prison. There are those who manage to escape into exile, but are hotly pursued by determined Royalists.

This is a book I have enjoyed reading and would recommend it to anyone interested in History. It has left me wanting to know more about the exploits of those regicides who decided to run rather than face an uncertain future at home. I look forward to tracking down the journals of men like Ludlow and Goffe.

 

[Cairnbeg]

....started on "War for America - The Fight for Independence 1775-1783" by Jeremy Black....a general history over-view of the AWI.....the book that I have just finished, "Redcoats and Rebels - The War for America, 1770-1781" by Christopher Hibbert, was okay but I found it not so detailed as some of the other general histories on the same subject......I'm glad I read it nonetheless as it portrayed the AWI from more of a British viewpoint...

...I picked this new book simply because I had read one of the authors previous books, "Culloden and the '45" as part of my Jacobite studies, and I wanted to find out how he viewed the American Revolution....

...this leaves one final book to be read before starting into specific AWI battle & campaign histories, and that will be the Piers Mackesy book, "The War for America 1775-1783".....which appears with regularity in the 'select bibliography' of many of the tome's that I've read so far....and coupled with that, this author was born not far from where I live, so it's apt that I've kept this book until now...

...all in all, a very fascinating subject !

 

[lancer]

Rereading an old favorite of mine, "Horrido!: Fighter Aces of the Luftwaffe" by Toliver and Constable. Read it for the first time in 1969 when my parents gave me a copy for Christmas. It's a great read and is written such that you can pick it up and read any given chapter and enjoy it as a stand-alone or just read it front to back, as I have done many times. I remember my shock when first reading about the gigantic scores these men racked up, both in the east and west. Until reading this work I was completely unaware of the aces of the Luftwaffe other than Galland, Moelders, Priller, and Marseille, and even then I didn't really know details. This book was a real eye-opener and so well done it is still very valuable to this day. Well worth the read if you have never done it and you have an interest in the air war. -- Al

 

[Terp152]

Has anyone read the 1965 4 vol (not the single condensed vol) Washington biography by James Thomas Flexner? Curious to see if there are any favorable reviews. Chris

 

[lancer]

Has anyone read the 1965 4 vol (not the single condensed vol) Washington biography by James Thomas Flexner? Curious to see if there are any favorable reviews. Chris

Chris, I have never read the set but back when I was involved in the book business, this set was always in demand and had a good reputation, although a little less so than the Freeman bio. -- Al

 

[Terp152]

Chris, I have never read the set but back when I was involved in the book business, this set was always in demand and had a good reputation, although a little less so than the Freeman bio. -- Al

Thanks Al. I only recently became aware of this bio. SOunds intriguing. Chris

 

[jazzeum]

Main Street by Sinclair Lewis (for a book club) and am in the homestretch on War & Peace.

 

[lancer]

Have just gotten into a book about tank warfare in the Pacific. It is called "Tanks in Hell: A Marine Corps Tank Company on Tarawa", written by Oscar Gilbert and Romain Cansiere and published by Casemate in 2015. Specifically, the book is about Charlie Company, First Corps Medium Tank Battalion and the 14 Sherman tanks that participated in the battle. Having read tank warfare books about action in Europe, Africa, and Russia for years I thought a Pacific title would be a nice change of pace and this book is proving to be extremely interesting. It follows the unit from it's formation, through training and into battle. If you are an armor fan, you will want to read this book, especially if you like the Sherman tank. This is not your usual tank warfare book and is all the more useful and interesting because of it. -- Al

 

[Terp152]

Have just gotten into a book about tank warfare in the Pacific. It is called "Tanks in Hell: A Marine Corps Tank Company on Tarawa", written by Oscar Gilbert and Romain Cansiere and published by Casemate in 2015. Specifically, the book is about Charlie Company, First Corps Medium Tank Battalion and the 14 Sherman tanks that participated in the battle. Having read tank warfare books about action in Europe, Africa, and Russia for years I thought a Pacific title would be a nice change of pace and this book is proving to be extremely interesting. It follows the unit from it's formation, through training and into battle. If you are an armor fan, you will want to read this book, especially if you like the Sherman tank. This is not your usual tank warfare book and is all the more useful and interesting because of it. -- Al

Served with a Marine infantry officer at a HQ once upon a time. He mentioned a Marine tank unit and said "they think they're Marines."

No disparagement intended of those who fought in any battles. Chris