What are the Forum members reading (2 Viewers)

[Terp152]

Reading Light Car Patrols 1916-1919 in anticipation of the JJD releases. Chris

 

[Artillery_crazy]

Yeap! You will like it, I really enjoyed the reading....A great work by Silphium Press - Royal Geographical Society.....would not doubt JJ used the copious pictures and references in it to come up with the new sets...I for sure did for my own little Light Car Patrol Project......Photos to be included in our regular forum threads later on this year.....{sm4}
Cheers
Luiz

Reading Light Car Patrols 1916-1919 in anticipation of the JJD releases. Chris

 

[Artillery_crazy]

Terp152,
If you like the reading then you can also read, Wheels Across the Desert - Exploration of the Libyan Desert by Motorcar 1916-1942.....very good also!
Cheers
Luiz

 

[Cairnbeg]

...really enjoyed reading "The Philadelphia Campaign, Volume 2, Germantown and the Roads to Valley Forge" by Thomas J. McGuire....very well written....it conveys wonderfully the events at the Battle of Germantown....pulling you right into the battle......likewise the part of the book that covers the Siege of Fort Mifflin is extremely engaging.....I would recommend both books in this 2 vol set to anyone with an interest in the AWI....

...next book to start with is:- "Brandywine - A Military History of the Battle that Lost Philadelphia but Saved America, September 11, 1777" by Michael C. Harris....even though this battle was covered in Vol.1 of the above set of books, it seemed appropriate to read this one volume that covers solely this particular battle....

.

 

[Old Bill]

Death, Destruction and a Packet of Peanuts - A Rollicking Pub Crawl Through Four Years of the English Civil War
By Chris Pascoe

A very funny book, with some wry observations.

 

[lancer]

Been doing a lot of ACW reading, mainly relating to J.B. Hood around Atlanta, and his Tennessee campaign. Just got 3 books on Hood, 2 new to me and 1 old friend reacquired. One new title is 'John Bell Hood and the Fight for Civil War Memory' by Brian Miller. It is a 2010 publication of 317 pages and is one of a current flock of books dealing in setting the record straight on Hood's record. Book 2 is titled 'John Bell Hood and the Struggle for Atlanta' by David Coffey. I found this to be a good, but brief, introduction to the campaign with a welcome unbiased POV. It is a 1998 softcover of 176 pages. The old friend reacquired is the old classic bio of Hood, 'The Gallant Hood' by John Dyer, done in 1950 and 383 pages. An old favorite, it holds up well.
Also did some backfilling, getting titles I have read but for some reason didn't have. Got 3 WW2 titles; 'Tarawa: The Story of a Battle' by Robert Sherrod, a must have/read account by an eyewitness war correspondent; and 2 books by Eric Hammel, 'Carrier Strike: The Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands, October 1942', ( pub. in 1999, 409 pages) and 'Carrier Clash: The Invasion of Guadalcanal & the Battle of the Eastern Solomons, August 1942', (pub. 1997, 358 pages). Both are excellent histories done by an author I really like. Got these 3 because I finally found them at prices I didn't mind spending. I also finally replaced my missing book 'The Gettyburg Campaign: A Study in Command' by Edwin Coddington. Found a beautiful 1st edition from 1968 (no dj) for only $10.00. A true bargain considering how much it usually is. Hard to believe I went for years without this classic in my collection. The 'ONE' book for Gettysburg, if forced to choose. -- Al

 

[Go for Broke]

Al or anyone else, I want your opinion. I know this has been discussed before, but I'm currently reading Gettysburg, The Last Invasion by Allen Guelzo. I've been to Gettysburg four times and have knowledge of the lay of the land and a basic understanding of the flow of the battle, but I found this book to be very confusing. The maps were too focused to the particular action and would be better if it showed a particular battle in relation to the Gettysburg area. I feel you have to be an expert of the battle to enjoy this book. I'm less than halfway through and am about to give up and read something else. Any thoughts?

 

[lancer]

Al or anyone else, I want your opinion. I know this has been discussed before, but I'm currently reading Gettysburg, The Last Invasion by Allen Guelzo. I've been to Gettysburg four times and have knowledge of the lay of the land and a basic understanding of the flow of the battle, but I found this book to be very confusing. The maps were too focused to the particular action and would be better if it showed a particular battle in relation to the Gettysburg area. I feel you have to be an expert of the battle to enjoy this book. I'm less than halfway through and am about to give up and read something else. Any thoughts?

I have to say that I enjoyed the Guelzo book, but not any more than the Sears book. IMO, you can't do better than the Coddington history of the battle. That said, the Coddington book is enhanced if you read it with the excellent 2007 publication 'The Maps of Gettysburg: An Atlas of the Gettysburg Campaign, June 3-July 13, 1863' by Bradley Gottfried, and published by Savas Beatie. The map book allows you to follow the action almost minute by minute. All that said, the Coddington is not written in a manner that a non-ACW student/fan would appreciate. Both the Sears and the Guelzo 'move' better, more of a popular history than the dryer Coddington. -- Al

 

[Go for Broke]

Thanks for your reply Al. I actually love history, however you and others take it to another level with your expert knowledge. You guys could teach a university class. A friend I exchange books with, said I like first hand accounts (small unit action and individual soldier's thoughts and feelings), which the Gettysburg is not.

 

[lancer]

I took advantage of the Military Book Club's Memorial Day sale to get several new books on several subjects. Number 1 on the list is an ACW book on a subject I know little about called 'Theater of a Separate War: The Civil War West of the Mississippi River, 1861-1865', written by Thomas Cutler. I have read some on this theater, but my knowledge gets slimmer the further west it goes. The book 588 pages and appears comprehensive. Book 2 is called 'Caesar's Greatest Victory: The Battle of Alesia, 52 BC' by John Sadler & Rosie Serdiville. I have only a passing knowledge of this subject so it is another book in 'new' territory for me. Book 3 is a subject I have read widely on, Midway. It's titled 'Never Call Me a Hero: A Legendary American Dive-bomber Pilot Remembers The Battle of Midway' by N. Jack 'Dusty' Kleiss, with Timothy and Laura Orr. Kleiss won the Navy Cross and I never tire of reading about our Navy pilots at Midway. Also got a book on Custer, another subject I have read quite a bit about, but who doesn't love another 'last stand' book? It is titled 'Death at the Little Big Horn: A New Look at Custer, His Tactics, and the Tragic Decisions Made at the Last Stand' by Philip Thomas Tucker. Tucker has written some interesting works so I look forward to this one just to see if his take is really 'new'. The last book I got is called 'Battle Royal: The War of the Roses, 1440-1462' by Hugh Bicheno. Took a chance on this as I am not familier with the author and know little about the subject but I had to have it as it dovetails with my collecting of the JJD War of the Roses figures. Might as well learn about the war if I'm going to collect the figures.:wink2: -- Al

 

[Terp152]

I took advantage of the Military Book Club's Memorial Day sale to get several new books on several subjects. Number 1 on the list is an ACW book on a subject I know little about called 'Theater of a Separate War: The Civil War West of the Mississippi River, 1861-1865', written by Thomas Cutler. I have read some on this theater, but my knowledge gets slimmer the further west it goes. The book 588 pages and appears comprehensive. Book 2 is called 'Caesar's Greatest Victory: The Battle of Alesia, 52 BC' by John Sadler & Rosie Serdiville. I have only a passing knowledge of this subject so it is another book in 'new' territory for me. Book 3 is a subject I have read widely on, Midway. It's titled 'Never Call Me a Hero: A Legendary American Dive-bomber Pilot Remembers The Battle of Midway' by N. Jack 'Dusty' Kleiss, with Timothy and Laura Orr. Kleiss won the Navy Cross and I never tire of reading about our Navy pilots at Midway. Also got a book on Custer, another subject I have read quite a bit about, but who doesn't love another 'last stand' book? It is titled 'Death at the Little Big Horn: A New Look at Custer, His Tactics, and the Tragic Decisions Made at the Last Stand' by Philip Thomas Tucker. Tucker has written some interesting works so I look forward to this one just to see if his take is really 'new'. The last book I got is called 'Battle Royal: The War of the Roses, 1440-1462' by Hugh Bicheno. Took a chance on this as I am not familier with the author and know little about the subject but I had to have it as it dovetails with my collecting of the JJD War of the Roses figures. Might as well learn about the war if I'm going to collect the figures.:wink2: -- Al

Sounds interesting, does the Cutler book cover Glorieta Pass? I read an account of the Pacific air war thru Midway by a DB flight lead. Good insight by an airman. Chris

 

[Terp152]

Reading Alone On Guadalcanal by Martin Clemens. Coast Watcher from start of the war and joined Vandergrift's 1st Marine Division staff.

Just ordered Gen Twinning's No Bended Knee (taken from Vandergrift's congressional testimony ). Twinning was deputy chief of ops on Guadalcanal. He died at age 94 the yr he published his account of the battle.
Chris

 

[lancer]

Sounds interesting, does the Cutler book cover Glorieta Pass? I read an account of the Pacific air war thru Midway by a DB flight lead. Good insight by an airman. Chris

Chris, I misspelled the author's name. The name is Cutrer, Thomas W. Cutrer, not Thomas J. Cutler, the author of a book about Leyte Gulf.:redface2: At any rate, Cutrer's book apparently (going by the index) makes only brief mention of the action at Glorieta. The book does seem to touch on the many actions that I have vaguely heard of like Sabine Pass, Pea Ridge, Wilson's Creek, Elkhorn Tavern, Port Hudson, Galveston, and so on. It is a book I look forward to reading, as soon as I can get to it. My reading pile is now somewhere in the 50-60 book range.{eek3} -- Al

 

[sammy719]

After a visit to Tombstone AZ. earlier this week I had the good fortune to pick up the " Tombstone Epitaph" newspaper of October 1881 which is a copy of some of the first actual witnesses that watched the shootout at the OK Corral including some of the participants as Wyat Earp, Sheriff Behan, W. Clanton and many others, very interesting to see politics as usual as you can tell what side certain witnesses were pulling for to be jailed.

 

[braddinpa]

If you are looking for maps I highly recommend the maps of Gettysburg by Brad Gottfried. Cover the entire campaign. They actually have a series on another campaigns like the Wilderness Antietam etc

Al or anyone else, I want your opinion. I know this has been discussed before, but I'm currently reading Gettysburg, The Last Invasion by Allen Guelzo. I've been to Gettysburg four times and have knowledge of the lay of the land and a basic understanding of the flow of the battle, but I found this book to be very confusing. The maps were too focused to the particular action and would be better if it showed a particular battle in relation to the Gettysburg area. I feel you have to be an expert of the battle to enjoy this book. I'm less than halfway through and am about to give up and read something else. Any thoughts?

 

[jazzeum]

Al or anyone else, I want your opinion. I know this has been discussed before, but I'm currently reading Gettysburg, The Last Invasion by Allen Guelzo. I've been to Gettysburg four times and have knowledge of the lay of the land and a basic understanding of the flow of the battle, but I found this book to be very confusing. The maps were too focused to the particular action and would be better if it showed a particular battle in relation to the Gettysburg area. I feel you have to be an expert of the battle to enjoy this book. I'm less than halfway through and am about to give up and read something else. Any thoughts?

When it comes to the Civil War, I tend to be more issues oriented than battle oriented so I was looking for something that would explain things clearly and succinctly and not be overly technical and I found that Guelzo's book did those things and in my opinion it was very, very good and not confusing. I've read some of his other books and I'm a big fan. I also looked at the Gottfried book when reading The Last Invasion but not constantly. The Last Invasion won the Lincoln Prize, which is the most prestigious award in Civil War History.

 

[Deitz]

I just started reading - The Knights Hospitaller, A Military History of the Knights of St John, by John Carr

 

[Cairnbeg]

....still got the AWI reading-bug, having now finished "Brandywine - A Military History of the Battle that Lost Philadelphia but Saved America, September 11, 1777" by Michael C. Harris, finding it a tad bit quote-heavy from other authors and one-sided, but glad I had read it as it deals with such an important battle spread over a long day....

...I've now started on:- "Fatal Sunday: George Washington, the Monmouth Campaign, and the Politics of Battle" by Mark E. Lender & Garry W. Stone...

...aside from this historical period.....my other recent reading has been with a couple of WW2 related books written by W. Stanley Moss...."Ill Met By Moonlight" (made into such a great film starring Dirk Bogarde) and the follow-up book, "A War of Shadows" (a book that is in turn dark when related to scenes of death, and light hearted when dealing with how time is spent when not fighting).....two very good books about the actions of the behind-the-lines Special Operations Executive....a real life 'boys-own' adventure.....a joy to read....

.

 

[sammy719]

Treefrog has a very nice selection of books to choose from (a bit higher then the thrift stores) but all in all a ton of variety.

 

[Desertkiwi]

I have dipped my toe into the FIW period and purchased several Osprey books about the era which I find fascinating. I wasn't after any heavy reading material as such so the 5x Campaign books are proving to be a great source of information at a glance. I'm currently reading all about 'Monongahela' having gained an over view of the conflict. Ripping good stuff and I can see why the TS for this period is so popular.
Cheers Toddy